


Sunshine, Dust and Sweat

by amandaithink



Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Awkwardness, BAMF Lucifer Morningstar (Lucifer TV), Chloe Decker Finds Out, Chloe KNOWS, Drinking, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Hurt Lucifer Morningstar (Lucifer TV), Hurt/Comfort, Ignores Season 4, Less playboy more demiurge, POV Chloe, Post-Devil Face Reveal to Chloe Decker, Post-Season/Series 03, Pre-Season/Series 04, Slice of Life, Smut, Some Humor, Therapy, because most of it was written before season 4 came out, but more implied than anything else, like no cut scenes, smut is skippable, uninterrupted conversations, very little plot, weird divinity questions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-13
Updated: 2019-10-18
Packaged: 2020-10-18 00:15:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 36,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20629901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amandaithink/pseuds/amandaithink
Summary: Chloe has been trying to process everything that happened after the events at the loft, mainly that her partner isthe devil. After too much time spent thinking by herself, she has way more questions than answers. With some help from Maze and Linda, Chloe finally goes to Lux to talk things out - and finds that he hasn't come to terms with what happened at all. With nowhere to be for a few days during the internal investigation, she is determined to continue talking until they can figure things out.





	1. Prologue: The Facts

**Author's Note:**

> Greetings and welcome to my deckerstar big bang fic! 
> 
> Just want to upright thank you for checking it out (it was a bit of a struggle to finish this one after season 4 came out, because it was so good and also nothing like what I had written - but I was already 3/4 way through my first draft and with some invaluable encouragement I was able to finish it).
> 
> Check out [the amazing art](https://thepoisonofgod.tumblr.com/post/187695074592/for-deckerstar-bigbang2019-in-collab-with-amazing) that [thepoisonofgod](https://thepoisonofgod.tumblr.com) made to go with it!
> 
> This fic is complete, and will be updated every Friday. This gives my beta time to proof and me time to edit and take the suggestions. 
> 
> Special thanks to;
> 
> [ohmylordy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ohmylordy/pseuds/Ohmylordy) for being an amazing beta _and_ listening to me vent about writer problems.
> 
> [thepoisonofgod](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thepoisonofgod) for the amazing art AND for offering tons of encouragement and suggestions while I was working through the rough draft. 
> 
> [ariaadagio](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ariaadagio/pseuds/ariaadagio) for demiurge headcanon inspiration, letting me know how to tag that, and for telling me that I should still post the fic despite it lacking much of a plot. 
> 
> And finally, to [deckerstarbigbang](https://deckerstar-bigbang.tumblr.com/) for this whole event. 
> 
> As always, these characters don't belong to me.
> 
> My beta does great work, any mistakes you see are mine.

Chloe sat at her desk, staring at her computer despite her desktop background being all that was on display. They had told her to go home, but she wasn’t ready. Trixie wouldn’t be out of school for hours yet and being alone in an empty apartment was the last thing she needed … not with all of … _this_.

Everyone thought she was distressed about Marcus Pierce after she had given her statement. They thought the shock of almost marrying the Sinnerman had thrown her for a loop. They were giving her time to process.

She did need time to process, but not for that … at least, not yet. No, she needed to process Lucifer. That he had never been lying, that he wasn’t delusional. All of it was true. All of it was _real_. 

How was she supposed to process that? That everything he had told her since the day they met was just the _truth_? 

Actually …

Clicking open a folder of past cases, Chloe began to scroll through years of files. She had an idea. The facts would help jog her memory, and she had an excellent memory - wouldn’t have made detective without one. Maybe if she could just look at the facts (because that’s what they were now and not just Lucifer’s delusional ramblings) and think of everything he told her before this shit storm - maybe that would help. 

Their first cases weren’t even official, they came before their partnership. She met him when his friend Delilah was murdered. Chloe shuddered, remembering Jimmy bashing his head bloody against the plexiglass. That was later, though. _Focus Decker_, she chided herself as she opened the folder. He had been the only true witness, with a testimony that raised all kinds of red flags. In retrospect, it was just so … Lucifer.

_Name: Lucifer Morningstar - not stage name, ‘God-given’, note: check records_. Well … next.

_Referred to others as ‘humans’. _

“Oh G- ugh!” Chloe put her head in her hands. This was already feeling like too much and she hadn’t even really started. Clenching her fists, she kept going. 

_Said he survived because he’s immortal._

“He would just- he still sometimes just _says that_ to people,” she muttered, closing those notes and opening the ones she had made of his ‘arrest’. 

He had gotten right out of her handcuffs - if she remembered correctly, she’s pretty sure if he hadn’t thought it was fun she wouldn’t have been able to ‘cuff him in the first place. 

It wasn’t in the notes, it had been too absurd for her to think of a way to write it up, but she definitely remembered the pitch he had given her to let him help. That he could draw out desires, that he was persuasive. He couldn’t read minds, didn’t have power over sins, but people liked to tell him things. Back then she hadn’t realized what an asset that could be in law enforcement. She also hadn’t thought it was _real_, either. When it proved to be effective, she had eventually stopped questioning it … couldn’t explain it …

Chloe glanced around the bullpen with a sigh. It was rare that she looked back on that day, but when she did, it was usually for much better … more _normal_ memories. When they met, Lucifer had complimented her - told her she was smart and to trust herself. She had needed that after Palmetto. He stood up for her with Dan, and even back then he’d said they had a connection, that he wanted to work with her. With another, much smaller, sigh she opened her notes on their meeting with Linda. 

When had he decided to start seeing her? And if not for being delusional, what made him decide he needed therapy?

She quickly shut down that line of questioning. She could save that particular rabbit hole for later. Right now she needed to focus on the facts she _already had_. As usual he had told her that he was the devil. Her reaction to him was apparently ‘normal’, and something Chloe had since learned to ignore. He made a deal with the therapist for information. His word was his bond. Another thing he constantly reminded her of. 

Skipping the next few files she got straight to Jimmy and forced herself to go through it slowly and in order, even though flashbulbs in her mind wanted to light all over the place. Lucifer had wanted punishment. Stacked up in their years together, this was just one blip - Lucifer _always_ wanted punishment. He delivered this one, though, she was sure.

_“He’s the Devil! He’s the Devil! HE’S THE DEVIL!”_

Most important was … she was pretty sure he had saved her life. That he had been properly immortal that day and stopped Jimmy from causing further damage, and somehow minimized the wound she’d already gotten. 

_“I won’t let you, my Father will just have to wait for you.”_

The promise came to her out of a fog, something forgotten in the pain. Previously she had only remembered what he had told her in the hospital - he was the _first person_ she’d seen upon waking - that she was too interesting to let die. Also, he had wanted to be her friend. Chloe bit her lip, feeling her face growing red. Lucifer had been so oddly sincere and honest right from the start and she didn’t know what it meant that he was so undeterred when she went on to reject all of it in the weeks that followed. He didn’t make sense then and he didn’t make sense now, even with this … even if he _really was_ …

She shuddered.

He hadn’t necessarily deserved that, not really. Of course, back then he was the most annoying person she’d ever met and gotten on her nerves like no one ever had. Delusional or not. He’d mellowed out since then. They’d both gotten used to each other. Chloe checked the time - it had only been 15 minutes. _Good_, she thought. There were a lot more files to go through. 

The next one wasn’t for an actual case. It was the file she had started on Lucifer himself, and she had given up on it a long time ago. What kind of detective was she, really? At least when it came to him? She had never just … quit searching before. Hasn’t since. The investigation into Lucifer Morningstar hadn’t been making any sense. Now she knew why.

She had tried to watch him undercover at Lux. It hadn’t worked. Maze … Maze used to _hate _her, Chloe recalled. How had that slipped her mind? They had become roommates, and friends, and then drifted, and now where did they stand? 

_No, not right now,_ she really needed to focus. 

Mazikeen had proudly told her that she followed Lucifer through the Gates of Hell. 

There had been no record of him before 2011. So that means Lucifer’s been ‘retired’ for 8 years now, whatever that meant. After existing for how many years? Billions? Her fingernails dug even harder into the palms of her hands, and it took some serious effort for her to unclench enough to grab the mouse again. 

She had pretended to flirt with him to figure out if he was wearing a bulletproof vest. Of course he hadn’t been. His words echoed back to her as she minimized the file.

_“It’s not a secret if I’m telling you the answer.”_

There was more to Lucifer’s file, but that investigation had been interrupted by the paparazzi one. The crime scene that he had followed her to, uninvited, had smoked weed that was _evidence_ and then assumed afterwards that they both would just go back to Lux to enjoy the rest of their ‘night’ … one of the events he had just reminded her of in his attempt to get them ‘back to normal’. Her eye roll was immediate and automatic. Despite how she felt now, Chloe really didn’t feel guilty for not liking Lucifer back then because RIGHT after all of that he came over unannounced and nosed around her house. He’d tried to have Trixie _play fetch_. 

Then she found out he had charmed his way into interrogation. Chloe paused, and looked around. By this point, no one was surprised to see him around, but there was no official normal _Earth_ or whatever reason for Lucifer Morningstar to be even slightly qualified to work here. He had decided he wanted to and just _made it happen_. Even after Lieutenant Monroe had gotten promoted (the favour Lucifer had apparently done in order to work here in the first place) no one ever questioned it. Except for Charlotte Richards … but wait, that was before she lost her memory, when everything was even weirder between the two of them …

She was getting ahead of herself. Still, how was it that no one else noticed? Chloe couldn’t believe that she had stopped noticing it. With another glance around, she went back to looking at her computer. They had gone together to follow a lead, Lucifer incited a paparazzi brawl after they went after her, and then he took her back to Lux. 

Had he been defending her or something? She’d probably never know and it didn’t matter. When they figured it out, Lucifer had wanted to deliver an ironic punishment. Chloe would never forget that one, because if she hadn’t figured it out _people would have died_. He had told her that deciding who gets punished and how was exactly what he did. 

Because Lucifer’s the devil. 

Lucifer is a _fallen angel_ whose _angel_ brother, if what he had told her at the time really was true, slowed time so he could pluck a bullet out of the air when the whole thing almost went pear shaped. _Shit, Amenadiel is an angel. _

Chloe exited the file and escaped to the bathroom, where she splashed some cold water onto her face. All of these things, all of this ‘proof’ Lucifer had offered her. She ignored it, because it had sounded crazy. Had seemed crazy. But she _experienced _them and she was a _detective_. Her job wasn’t to catch criminals in the act, it was to figure out what happened after the fact. 

So the fact that for some reason Lucifer had never shown her his ‘devil face’? 

Well, she certainly was finding plenty of evidence very quickly now - and there was only going to be more. The thing was … for every bit of evidence she found there were _even more_ examples of him behaving in a way that no one would ever imagine the _devil_ acting. 

After stopping in the break room to get a coffee, she sat back at her desk. She still had two hours before she needed to leave to pick up Trixie. Chloe opened up the next file - Lucifer had called her to a crime scene, a high profile case. The whole time she had thought he was feeling guilty about influencing that kid, but he just didn’t see it. Almost tampered with evidence, tried to get her to trust him to find out who was supposed to be punished.

It was actually getting a little easier to remember. Probably because she was _so used_ to Lucifer going _on and on_ about punishing people. For once, she was glad that her partner rarely could stop talking. 

The devil. Lucifer Morningstar. Her partner.

She scrolled through more of the case. Lucifer had taken over that sting operation. Shortly before he threw Ty’s agent through a glass wall. The security footage was part of the file, but she didn’t need to watch it. Right after it happened she had replayed it so many times that it was burned into her mind. 

When Chloe clicked open the next case, she gasped. It’s not that she had forgotten about it - how could she? The necklace rested on her chest right at this moment. No, she gasped because she was finally _really _remembering why she had shot him in the first place.

She had asked Lucifer to help her with an undercover operation, despite the fact that he had just broken into her house. He’d actually never stopped breaking into her house.

Did locks not work on him somehow? Like, any lock?

That case had been _ridiculous_ because the entire time she was trying to work, Lucifer had been boldly trying to get her to bed. He’d told her he could arrange for hell to freeze over. Now she had no idea if he was joking or not. Anyway, he had ended up ruining the undercover op because of it.

She’d seen him naked (well, for the first time. She’d seen Lucifer naked way more often than two people who were not sleeping together or living together). 

She’d seen his scars. He said they were from his wings.

His _angel wings_. 

“Hold on …” Chloe whispered. She didn’t need to keep looking at this file. There wasn’t a point, she remembered it well enough without rereading her case notes. He had shown his ‘devil face’ and she had glimpsed it’s reflection … for just a second. But she needed to remember what had happened to his wings because she knows they had went missing. And just recently he’d said they were back. He had been _devastated_. 

She grabbed her necklace, just to fidget, and then leaned away from her computer. This was the bullet. Lucifer had said he was immortal. It was how he survived the drive-by with Delilah, how he’d saved her from Jimmy … but she had shot him. He had bled. And he had been _so shocked_. 

That had been his attempt at proof. A non-devil face, not make you fall on the floor and wet yourself proof at showing her who he was. It hadn’t worked. 

If she remembered right, he said it had something to do with _her_. That _she_ made him vulnerable. Putting context to everything was killing her - she had a massive headache. It didn’t help that the cases she was looking at were so _old_. 

“You know what,” Chloe muttered to herself, “it doesn’t matter.” She closed out of the files and copied the folder onto a flash drive, just in case she needed to look at them later. Within a few minutes she was logged off and leaving the precinct. When she got into her car, she had no destination in mind.

Somehow she found herself pulling up to the beach. _Their_ beach … the one where they had had their first kiss. Being there didn’t pull the memory to the forefront, instead a different kiss flashed through her mind - on the balcony, just the other day … he had told her how he felt, had told her that he was the devil …

_“Not to me_” she had said.

Chloe got out of the car and stumbled toward the water, wind whipping at her hair and blowing water against her cheeks. It took a moment for her to realize that it wasn’t salt water, that she had started crying. Lucifer was the devil. It was all _real_.

God was real. The devil was real.

How was she supposed to _deal_ with this?

A wave of exhaustion hit her and she let it take her, sitting down haphazardly onto the sand, staring into the ocean. Never in her life had she felt so lost. Not when her dad had died, not right after Palmetto …

She looked up at the sky and tried to imagine an omnipotent _being_ watching everything that was happening. Watching everything and doing _nothing_, if Lucifer was to be believed. Chloe stared at the sky and let herself cry.

_“Not to me”_ she had said, and it- he was _actually_ the devil. What did that even _mean_, though? _Did_ it matter? Why was he even _here_? The devil doing detective work in LA?

She sat at the beach until her phone went off, a traffic update notification reminding her that she would have to leave soon if she wanted to be on time getting Trixie.

“Oh my g- ah Trixie,” she whispered to herself as she rushed back to the car, rubbing at her face and trying to get rid of every trace of her crying. She needed to be strong for her daughter … and she wasn’t sure that she could … not right now, not with this.

On her way to the school, she called her mom and ended up having to tell her about Charlotte, about Marcus (Cain?!) before she agreed to take Trixie for the rest of the week. It gave Dan time to grieve … it gave her time to try to get through all of this.

Hopefully by the time the week was out, she would have a handle on everything. She needed to be strong, and she would be. At least, Chloe hoped so.


	2. Chapter 1: Drinking With A Demon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maze needs a favor, so she tries to semi-coherently answer Chloe's questions over drinks.

It had been almost three days since everything imploded when Maze walked through the door like a hurricane. It was as if she had never moved out and just belonged there. Chloe was glad. Glad that Trixie was with her mom for the week, and glad that Maze had just _shown up_. She hadn’t been able to summon the nerve to call her (and definitely not to call Lucifer, who hadn’t tried to contact her either - and what did that mean?). Even though she had (kind of) come to terms with the _truth_ of Lucifer, and therefore of Maze … it was still too much to wrap her head around, and she had so many _questions_.

Maze didn’t give her time to talk (her jaw was still hanging open) and was speaking while she stomped through the kitchen, banging through the cupboards. Looking for alcohol, if Chloe knew who she was dealing with … and she was pretty sure that was still true, she knew Maze. 

“Decker, good, you’re here. I need you to call Lucifer for me. He’s not taking my calls, but I know he’ll pick up for you and I have some shit I need him to take care of right now,” she finished before opening a liter of vodka (that was apparently in the drawer under the oven) and taking a few large gulps straight from the bottle.

Chloe stared at her (former?) roommate, wishing that she had tried to catalogue every supernatural thing Maze had ever said or done while she had been focusing on what she had been willfully ignoring about her partner. The devil.

While her frame of reference for Lucifer’s divine identity was spotty and full of things she had ended up reading online that made little sense, she’d been able to remember enough about what he’d _told her_ about himself to get _maybe_ a _bit_ of an idea. Searching Mazikeen on Google, with or without the word demon, just got social media results from said demon. No mythical lore to try to shift through and compare with. 

“Decker? Hello?” Chloe came back to herself when Maze started waving her hand in front of her face. 

“Uh … sorry,” she managed, eyeing the vodka bottle still in Maze’s fist. Maybe she needed a drink if she was going to start this conversation. “You, uhm, needed to talk to Lucifer?” 

“Yeah. I’ve been with Linda the last few days. We talked, and she thinks I have a lot of people to apologize to but that’s not gonna work. That’s not _enough_ so I need Lucifer to punish me,” Maze grimaced, taking another swig, “and before you ask, no it’s not a sex thing. I fuckin’ wish. But it doesn’t matter that you don’t believe he’s the devil, I just need you to call him for me.”

This was her opening. Chloe took a big, shuddering breath. If she was going to _really_ talk to Maze, she needed to start talking _right now_. 

“I believe you.”

It all came out in a rush, those three words. Like ripping a band-aid. 

“What?” Maze paused in the middle of raising the bottle back to her lips.

“I said ‘I believe you’,” Chloe managed it a little more calmly this time, “about Lucifer. Being the devil. I believe you.”

This was the first time she’d actually said it out loud. To someone else. It was amazingly cathartic. 

“He finally figured out a way to convince you without his face?” Maze sat the bottle on the counter behind her and took a few steps back. She looked at Chloe with a mix of uncertainty and disbelief. 

“Uh … no … he, um, got his face back I guess.” She grimaced as the memory of the warehouse flashed behind her eyes, but pulled herself out of it.

“And you’re fine?”

Wasn’t that the question of the hour? “I’m … getting there? Maybe? I’m trying - but I’ve got a lot of questions.” She barely held back a wince, unsure of how Maze would take it. She wasn’t usually the sit down and talk kind of person - well, demon. 

“You _know_ that I’m an _actual demon_ and you just … have questions?!” Maze grabbed the bottle again, but didn’t drink anything - too shocked.

“Yeah … and I definitely need a drink,” she admitted, pretty sure that if she didn’t say it aloud and put action into words Maze would down the whole bottle once she remembered that she had it in her hand. Her request seemed to trigger her friend (her friend, the _demon_) into action, maybe from her brief stint as a bartender, because Maze started moving again. Back into the kitchen for glasses … which she just poured straight vodka into. 

“Alright Chloe,” she almost cheered, bafflement still apparent, “you’ve got some balls, I like it. You got questions, I’m game. I owe you this.” 

Chloe followed her into the kitchen and took the orange juice out of the fridge. She’d have to just drink it out of the carton like a college kid but there was no way she’d be able to drink a glass of straight vodka. This conversation would be difficult enough without her puking midway through it.

“Wait,” Maze paused right before Chloe could fully sit on the barstool across from her, “why won’t Lucifer answer your questions? I mean, I’ll do it, but he does _owe_ you. Not to mention he could answer any of your questions better than _me_.” 

“I haven’t seen him since. I’m just … not sure what to say.”

“Well how did it even go?! Did you freak out? Did you punch him in the face? Did you shoot him again?” 

Chloe felt her face redden at the memory of Lucifer’s first serious attempt at making her believe he was who he said he was. How that had gone wrong … because for some reason she ‘makes him vulnerable’? She took a sip from her vodka glass and a chug from the orange juice to dull the burn.

“It- it wasn’t on purpose. I don’t think he knew it, uhm … that his _face_ had changed. Once he figured it out he had just disappeared. I haven’t seen him since. We haven’t talked.” He had managed to de-feather the crime scene and replace the murder weapon with a different knife (and somehow make the wounds match it …?), then deliver a statement that perfectly matched hers - but she hadn’t caught a glimpse of him throughout any of it. 

Maze just rolled her eyes and nodded, taking a swallow from her own glass - no chaser needed. Obviously.

“Why did he just run away?” she asked. It wasn’t what she had originally planned on asking first, but it had been on her mind since the moment it happened.

“He cares what you think of him. Now you can’t pretend he’s a person, even when he doesn’t act like one. He’s scared. He’s an idiot,” Maze leaned onto the counter, her face screaming ‘duh’ even if she hadn’t actually said it. 

That actually made a lot of sense. Even if Chloe couldn’t fathom why Lucifer cared what _she_ thought. She was just a human woman. A human woman who apparently resisted his whole desire mojo thing and made him vulnerable, but that still didn’t explain why he, _the devil_, thought of her the way that he did. The way he truly seemed to want her friendship … to have _feelings_ for her …

Somehow they _were_ friends. He really did care about her.

This wasn’t a train of thought she needed to explore right now, though. Especially not with Maze and her aversion to feelings. She took another drink. 

“Okay. That’s okay. What- what actually _is he_?” she asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Well nothing on the internet made sense, and half of it contradicted itself. Almost none of it reminded me of the Lucifer _I_ know, so … what is he?”

Maze chuckled before she took another sip of vodka. Actually _just_ a sip this time, for once. “Damn Decker, you _are_ good. Lucifer is an archangel. He’d say _was_ but now that his wings are back to stay, he really can’t pretend not to be. He did fall, though.” 

His _wings_. She was going to need to skip over that for now. Come back to it later. Because _wings_. 

“But what does him being an archangel _mean_? I didn’t grow up learning this stuff.”

“Well, it means you definitely don’t want to get on his bad side. Archangels are more powerful than normal angels. Lucifer in particular, if he’s motivated enough and has wings, can really only get his ass kicked by his Dad or Michael, now that his Mom is out of the picture.”

_That’s … what?_ Chloe couldn’t wrap her mind around it. His dad. God. One other _archangel_ and _God_ could kick his ass. No one else, unless he lets them. She took a good chug from her glass, almost choking as she reached for the juice. 

“Wait … _if_ he has wings?” So much for not getting into his … extra body parts. 

“Yeah. That’s where almost all of the power comes from. The fact that he cut ‘em off when we got here is why I had to stay with him to begin with. For protection.”

Chloe nodded, even though it barely made sense. If she wasn’t in his vicinity, she was pretty sure Lucifer didn’t have much to fear from anything or anyone on Earth. Who was she to argue with what a wingless archangel would need, though. _Oh G-shit, how is this my life_. 

“So, now that he- since he has them again, what does _that_ mean?”

“It means all you humans are lucky he’s such a relaxed dude.”

Chloe spluttered into nervous laughter. “I’m sorry,” she managed in between crazed guffaws, “Lucifer. Lucifer Morningstar … a _relaxed dude?!_”

Maze joined in, finishing off her glass and moving back to the bottle. “I can see where you’re coming from. From human standards he can be pretty uptight and, uh … firey.” Maze almost giggled. 

_From human standards_.

“So … from archangel standards?”

“From any angel standards, Lucifer is a free-love artsy stoner who doesn’t listen for shit, too caught up in what _he_ thinks about stuff. A rebel.” The last word was said seriously, unlike the rest which seemed more like a joke or parody - at least, that’s what Chloe _thinks_. It wouldn’t hurt to double check, though. 

“So you’re saying no other angel would sleep with whoever they want, do large amounts of drugs, drink all day, play piano for fun, or grant poorly thought out favours to people,” she tried to clarify beyond what just sounded like Maze criticizing his personality (even if it was … unique for his species). Maze just rolled her eyes and took a swig from her bottle, causing Chloe to frown. She had thought she’d been keeping up. 

“Ugh yeah, that’s true, but you’re not getting it. Not really, because I’m still trying not to _scare _you. You need to _understand_, though, so I’ll try harder.” With that, she chugged the rest of the bottle. The _entire_ bottle. 

“Alright,” Chloe whispered, taking a decent sized sip from her glass and then dumping orange juice straight into it now that there was more room.

“I hope I remember this right. I’ve known Lucifer a long time, and he didn’t tell it like a story, this is just bits and pieces I’ve heard every so often over the ages. You piece it together, y’know?” Maze seemed to be stalling, opening more cupboards, eventually finding a gallon of sangria pushed in the back of the baking cupboard. How had that actually been _hiding_ there? It was huge!

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” Chloe offered, actually worried that she was about to chug that thing too. 

“Nope, you gotta know so that he’s not all ‘mysterious’ anymore and you can call him for me. I’m doing this for both of us,” Maze replied with half an eye roll and some air quotes. “So, Lucifer. He’s an archangel. Angels are soldiers of God, and archangels are for special extra stuff. There’s a handful. I don’t remember all their names. Some of them are pansies, like healers and shit. Lucifer and Michael - the twins - they’re the strongest, raw power-wise.”

“Hold up. Lucifer is a _twin_?” 

Chloe took a big gulp of her - quite strong still, damn - screwdriver, mortified that her mind immediately took a turn to the inappropriate. Maze, unfortunately, seemed to pick up on that too, because of course she did - it’s _Maze_. 

“Yeah. Identical, too, I’m pretty sure. But there’s no way you’d be able to score a threeway, and no reason you’d want to. Michael is _nothing_ like Lucifer. Polar opposites.” The smirk was still on her face, however, and Chloe felt like her face was about to burst into flames. She took another drink and motioned for her to go on. 

“So, uhm twins, raw power …?” 

“Right. They were ‘the demiurge’. Michael was the creation power, Lucifer was the will. God handed them the blueprints and they made the universe. Powerful.”

“Are you _kidding me_?!!” Chloe slapped the counter, knocking over her drink and getting splashes of orange juice on the sleeve of her blue dress.

“Nope. Bastard God and bitch Goddess may have made the celestial plane and a slew of angels, but all this that you got? Archangel art project.”

Chloe ignored the spilled drink and Maze actually wiped it up and filled her glass with sangria. Which was fine, better than vodka. She couldn’t wrap her mind around this. How was knowing this about Lucifer supposed to make it easier to talk to him? He literally _created the universe_. 

“Wh- what else?” she squeaked. 

“C’mon Chloe, you’re doing good. Just keep following me. After they made this and went back, everyone got a new job except for Lucifer. Then He made humans and He gave you free will and told all His kids that they were supposed to love you guys. But Lucifer _was_ will so finding out there was a thing called _free will_ was like a slap in the face. So he wanted free will and his Dad said no.”

“But why?” Chloe asked in a whisper between long sips of sangria.

“I don’t know, it’s _God_. Apparently _angels_ weren’t _designed_ to be that way or something. They’re not even supposed to want _anything_, at least that’s what I’ve heard. His Dad commanded Lucifer to stop wanting free will and so Lucifer _actually tried_ but that didn’t go well, obviously, because he’s _Lucifer_. You know what he’s like.”

Chloe nodded and took a sip of her drink.

“None of his siblings understood what he was upset about, then his Mom and Dad started fighting because his Mom thought humans were dumb and whatever. Things were super tense in the Silver City and I think that’s when Lucifer went down to Earth because he’s supposed to love these humans so maybe they’re, you know, lovable. Or whatever he thought that meant at the time, I’m not sure.”

Maze drank more, but Chloe knew the story wasn’t done yet. She took the moment to try to process any of it, really. Lucifer was an archangel, the will of God, who apparently just wanted free will and none of his family understood why? That couldn’t really be all, could it? Maybe Maze was right when they first started talking, maybe Lucifer would do a better job answering her questions. 

“The humans on Earth, were they Adam and Eve?” she asked, deciding she could at least get clarification here if not anywhere else. The Bible doesn’t exactly talk about Heaven-domestics. 

“Yeah, you guys managed to get their names right. They were super into Lucifer, what with the fact that he’s walking-talking desire in a hot angel package. _Original sin_. Thing is those two were apparently doe eyed idiots because even though they had free will, they had no knowledge, which pissed Lucifer off to no end. So he explained to Eve what free will is and what knowledge is and told her that if she ever decided she wanted to eat the fruit she actually could. There would be consequences, but she could do it if she wanted. She goes for it, then tricks Adam into it - not cool - and then there were consequences, like Lucifer knew there would be.

“Lucifer didn’t actually get in that much trouble for the whole Eden thing. He fell after his rebellion. His Dad had Michael chuck Lucifer down to the lowest plane of existence and lock him out of the Silver City. Lucifer made Hell, helped to make me and the other demons, and then God started sending down souls for punishing. Lucifer did it, because they misused their free will. After awhile he started visiting humanity, and obviously he liked it. Eventually he ‘retired’. You’ve been around for the rest.” 

Maze’s bottle of sangria is almost gone.

Chloe takes another big sip from her glass. She had no words, and she was pretty sure that was the most she had ever heard Maze say in a single go.

Lucifer Morningstar is an immortal archangel older than time, who shaped the universe. Lucifer has been punishing the guilty souls of humanity since the beginning of death. 

Lucifer Morningstar owns a nightclub, where he parties and plays the piano. Lucifer can’t buy food from a vending machine because he refuses to carry ‘small bills or change’.

Lucifer Morningstar was once flung from the top of this dimension to the very bottom, and the wounds never healed.

Lucifer Morningstar died for her twice. Lucifer … might love her.

Lucifer Morningstar can speak every language, doesn’t understand children, and has only lived on Earth in any permanent capacity for less than a decade. He never even tries to seem human beyond looking like one, plus he’s completely baffled by the spectrum of human emotions. He’s always complaining about his family, gave himself some absurdly flexible vow of truth, speaks impulsively and constantly, and doesn’t have a concept of personal boundaries … and it all is actually starting to make sense. 

When she looked back up at Maze, she was texting.

“Is that Lucifer?” she asks, regretting it immediately. 

“No, I’m texting Linda to bring more booze. You’re out.”

“Oh. Okay.” Chloe felt a bit … disappointed. She had wanted to ask a few more questions before talking to Lucifer. Maybe being drunk would help, though. Maybe for once Maze is right. 

“You can keep firing away, Decker,” Maze responded to her sigh as she left the kitchen to collapse onto the couch, “Linda’s known for awhile now.”

“She does?!”

“Yeah, and she almost stopped being my friend over it. Didn’t talk to us for weeks. Was a little unhinged for awhile after she did start seeing us again. You’re handling it _way_ better than she did. I think she might be jealous,” Maze finished with a chuckle.

“I guess that makes sense. Lucifer told me he broke her.” Chloe remembered all of the times she had offered to listen to his problems. Sometimes he wouldn’t want to talk to her, other times he did and she treated him like he was delusional and acting that way just to make her day more difficult.

Her question now wasn’t why she still considers him her friend, but why _he_ still kept wanting to be friends with _her_. Then again, he knew that she didn’t believe him. Knew that she would need tangible proof … and now she had it. Chloe ran her fingers through her hair, pulling it away from her face as she took a deep breath. She needed to focus.

“Is the language thing an all angel ability or a Lucifer one?” she decided to ask. Stick to less big questions. 

“All angels, all demons.”

“Was Lucifer … or I guess, any angel or demon - ever a, like, child version of …?”

This time Maze laughed. “No, nope, no such thing. And we don’t get kids in hell unless they’re part of a hell loop. No actual child souls.”

“That explains so, so much,” Chloe groans, taking a sip of her briefly forgotten sangria. She was surprised that Maze hadn’t snuck it away from her - it wouldn’t have been the first time.

“You managed to have an awesome spawn, so at least there’s that. Most pleasant experience either of us has had with a tiny human.” 

_That was … kind of sweet_, Chloe thought, hiding a grin behind her glass. “Is there a reason you guys don’t understand boundaries?”

Maze’s eyebrow lifted slowly up her forehead, but she didn’t answer. Instead she went to the door, opening it before Linda had even cleared the stairs. “I got here as fast as I could,” Chloe hears the therapist pant in exhaustion, “is this enough?”

“It’s a start,” Maze replied before leading their friend into the living room. Linda pulled three bottles of wine, two fifths of tequila, and a super expensive looking bottle of whiskey from two canvas totes and sat them on the coffee table. The whiskey looked like it was probably a gift from Lucifer. Actually, the wine looked pretty fancy too, but Linda _was_ a therapist in LA so she could probably afford it. Maze had classified all of that as a start. How did she expect the night was going to go?!

“Hi Linda,” Chloe found herself saying awkwardly, moving from the kitchen island to sit in an armchair. 

“Chloe! How are you doing?” she asked, pulling her into a hug. 

“I- I think I’m okay. I can’t wrap my head around any of the real divinity stuff, but it’s not … I’m not completely un-used to it, I guess?” She didn’t know how she was doing. Apparently better than all of the suspects Lucifer revealed himself to. Apparently better than Linda had at first, not that Linda didn’t seem fine - she seemed to go on as normal pretty well. At this point, at least. 

“Good, I’m so glad. I wouldn’t try to rush it too much, though. It’ll pop up on you when you least expect it. Someone will say ‘what the Hell’ and you’ll go into hysterics. Or Lucifer will mention his thoughts on King Tut as a person and your whole day will be shot because _hey Lucifer was in Ancient Egypt when it wasn’t ancient_.” 

_Damn_. Chloe finally finished off her sangria. “Yeah, I’ll … watch out for that.”

She hadn’t even noticed her leave the room, but Maze came back in with proper wine glasses and then poured them each a glass.

“So to answer your question Decker, your boundaries are more restrictive than we’re used to. The only doors in Hell are for the cells. They’re all unlocked, aside from the heavy hitters. From what I know, doors don’t exist in the Silver City. Doors are for keeping danger out or secrets in. This is the only plane where those things exist.”

“What about just privacy? A moment alone?” Linda asked, giving Chloe some time to get used to the idea of planes of existence where doors are not real. 

“Tell ‘em this is your room and make them leave. Don’t know how it works in Heaven. As for Lucifer, he just needs to project a ‘don’t come in here’ vibe and no one would come in. Chloe might be able to, come to think of it. We should try it one of these days.” 

“I’m not going to just barge in on him because you tell me to, Maze,” Chloe sighs. The idea of seeing Lucifer at all … she still had no idea what to say to him. She does want to see him. Definitely _needs_ to. But what would she actually say?

“Whatever. You got anything else?”

Of course she did. She probably always would. The thing was, at this point she didn’t want the answers to come from Maze. Even if she didn’t know how to begin the process of talking to ‘the devil himself’. 

“Maybe later,” she hedged, “right now I think I might want to try calling him.” 

“Awesome!” Maze downed her drink, and Chloe wasn’t sure why she had thought that maybe the demon would slow down after she finished asking her questions. 

“I just- I still don’t know how to even _start_ talking to him,” Chloe admitted, glancing more toward Linda. She was pretty sure Maze didn’t know the meaning of the term ‘hesitate’. 

“Perfectly normal,” Linda responded after a swallow of wine, “and understandable. The important thing is to just remember that he’s still the Lucifer you’re used to dealing with everyday. The uh … _subtext_ isn’t going to suddenly be all that goes on with him.”

Chloe nodded. Maze didn’t seem to be listening anymore and probably wouldn’t tune in until Chloe had her phone in her hand. 

“Maybe I should sober up first,” she thought aloud, realizing that she might be a level past tipsy when she tried to reach for her phone and almost fell off the chair. 

“What, so you can chicken out?” Apparently Maze _was_ still paying attention.

“I’m not going to chicken out,” she denied immediately, glancing at her phone. It was getting late, almost 11pm. Lucifer might be busy at Lux doing who knows what … or who.

“I don’t usually encourage drunk dialing, but I’m with Maze on this. I think you should get ahold of him as soon as possible. The last time I saw him was … not in a therapist capacity,” Linda cringed, “so I can say without breaking confidentiality that he is _not_ doing well, and I’m pretty sure a call from you would go a long way toward helping his peace of mind.”

“You’ve spoken to him?” Chloe sat her phone down on the coffee table. This was important. She should get the lay of the land before calling.

“Yeah, he uh … needed some help, and likes to ignore the fact that I’m really not that kind of doctor.”

“Lucifer’s injured?!” Maze seemed outraged, but didn’t jump off the couch and grab some knives like Chloe thought she would.

“He was. With the way he heals, he’s probably fine now … physically, at least. He’s taking what happened with Cai- Marcus … very hard.”

“Catch me up, why didn’t you guys say anything?!” Maze looked furious. 

Chloe didn’t want to relive it, but Maze deserved to know. Especially after all of the questions she’d answered. So she told them about their investigation after Charlotte’s death, about the ambush. Linda interrupted her after she said she’d gotten shot and then woke up on a roof a block away.

“Lucifer shielded her with his wings, they weren’t going to stop firing. I had to remove 82 bullets from them. It was gruesome.” The therapist looked pale and opened one of the bottles of tequila to take a swig straight from the bottle before settling back to her wine. Chloe couldn’t imagine drinking, suddenly feeling like she was going to throw up. 

_82 bullets_. 

“Then what?” Maze asked, unaware that Chloe couldn’t stomach even opening her mouth at the moment. Linda seemed to realize, at least, for which she was grateful.

“Lucifer killed Cain. With the blade Cain had taken from you, which he was trying to kill Lucifer with.”

Maze’s glass shattered on the floor. Chloe cringed at the noise but didn’t otherwise move. Linda was also very still. The broken glass and wine stains were ignored.

“He actually did it. He killed a human. That’s how he got his devil face back.”

“He feels like a monster,” Linda whispered, eyes getting glassy. 

“You should have told me, I’ve been staying at your place for days!”

“Well l- he seems pretty mad at you. I told him that you two should talk, but obviously he doesn’t think it’s necessary.”

Everything had been so still, and then suddenly Maze was a whirlwind. She leapt off the couch, dragging Linda with her and heading for Chloe - who barely felt like her stomach had calmed down enough to even think about standing, let alone walking or running. 

“No calls,” Maze stated, pushing Linda toward the door before hauling Chloe up. The world span off-kilter. “We’re going to Lux. _Now_.” 

“I don’t-” _feel so good_, Chloe wanted to finish, but she didn’t get the chance because Maze had picked her up and carried her to the car faster than was humanly possible. The world spun faster and even more off-kilter and Chloe threw up as soon as Maze put her back onto her feet. Linda had just emerged into the parking lot, looking baffled by the quick turn of events. 

“You gonna be alright for this, Decker?” Maze had the courtesy to ask once the puking had stopped. 

“I don’t want to walk in there smelling like vomit,” she mumbled, only partially aware that there were reasons why hygiene should be put at a low priority. 

Then the brief moment of calm ended. She was in the backseat with Linda, who had taken out some wet wipes and gum from her purse to fix her up. Maze drove like Lucifer, no regard for speed limits whatsoever. It made her stomach lurch. A bottle of water appeared, and Chloe sipped it slowly. Maze and Linda were talking, but she couldn’t pay attention to what they were saying. They would be at Lux soon, and she still had no idea what to say to Lucifer. There was no plan, and she now knew that whatever they walked into, Lucifer was not doing well. 

She rested her head against the window and closed her eyes. It felt like it had just been a blink, but then Linda was calling her awake and the car was parked. They were there. They were there, and she still didn’t know what to say to him.

“C’mon, we gotta move,” Maze said with such _surety_ that Chloe decided to just trust her. They walked in and went straight to the private elevator. Lux was packed as always, but Lucifer was notably absent. 

“What if he’s not here?” Chloe asked, once they were finally in the elevator and heading up.

“He’s here. I can tell.”

She felt like there was more to Maze’s answer than that, but didn’t feel like asking. She didn’t need to know. Not right now, at least. Before she knew it, they’d stopped and the doors were opening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Kudos & comments are always appreciated.
> 
> Feel free to rate Maze's Drunk History performance - no matter what I did with the scene I was never 100% happy with it, but the idea of it happening wouldn't leave me alone so *shrug*. Gotta have some humor amidst the angst - it is Lucifer, after all.


	3. Chapter 2: Seeking the Devil

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Lucifer is upset, Maze gets what she came for, and Chloe is still in way over her head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This weeks update comes a day early! My laptop is being repaired and I don't get it back until tomorrow evening but thankfully most of this fic is on a Google doc and I would much rather be early as opposed to late.  
So, enjoy!

Chloe was speechless. There he was. Lucifer, sitting at his piano with a nearly empty bottle of whisky and a half filled glass _ ,  _ ashtray full of cigarette butts and a lit one pressed between his lips. He was wearing nothing but his robe, opened to reveal black boxer briefs. His five o’clock shadow was moving toward a beard and his hair was messier than she’d ever seen it. When he turned to look at them, his eyes were wide and bloodshot and his mouth hung open. He was speechless, too.

No one moved. It was as if time stood still.

“… D- … Detective?”

One word and she was closing the gap, tears falling down her cheeks - she hadn’t even realized she had started crying. 

_ 82 bullets _ . They were all in a vase on his coffee table, but she barely glanced at them. She didn’t stop moving until she was crashing into him, his arms moving around her as if on autopilot.

“L-Lucifer,” was all she managed before she just started sobbing. She still didn’t know what to say, and didn’t keep track of how long she cried onto his shoulder. At some point his arms had wrapped more securely around her, and one of his hands began to drag through her hair in a soothing motion. 

“Are you okay?” she finally asked in a whisper, eyes burning and finally dry of tears - at least for now. 

“No,” he answered, still embracing her, “I don’t believe I am.”

The words hit her like a knife to the gut.

“We’re here for you,” she heard Linda say from somewhere behind her. Somehow she had completely forgotten that the others were there. Lucifer made a  _ tsk _ noise, but said nothing else. 

Chloe finally moved, sitting upright next to him on the piano bench. His arms left her, and she felt cold, but she didn’t know if she should move closer again. He looked wary. The same uncertainty and disbelief that Maze had possessed earlier were clearly visible on his face. It was like he was  _ scared _ of her.

_ He cares what you think of him. Now you can’t pretend he’s a person, even when he doesn’t act like one. He’s scared. _

“Are you okay?” he asked her, and it was so … so … ridiculous!

“Of course I’m okay,” she answered, sadness suddenly replaced by anger in the span of seconds, “you’re the one who disappeared! I’ve been  _ worried _ about you for days! I had to process everything  _ by myself _ !”

This was obviously the wrong way to go. Lucifer shut down and said nothing. The bout of anger vanished, leaving behind nothing but adrenaline-fueled nerves and regret. A quick glance revealed Linda to be sitting on the couch and Maze helping herself behind the bar. Lucifer was still a statue next to her. 

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, “I just … wish you hadn’t left.”

“You truly would have wanted me to stay?” he asked her, voice low and hollow, “The Devil by your side?”

Chloe could tell that the words were meant to be snide, sharp and biting. That he was expecting her fear and rejection - lashing out to protect himself from further harm. She wasn’t going to let him.

“Maybe … maybe it was good, the space, at first. I had time to think. But you never called, or texted, or said  _ anything _ ! Then I come here and you’re a complete wreck! I thought we were partners!”

“Oh, so I’m the only party in this friendship with the responsibility for picking up a phone, is that it?” The words weren’t angry, but said with a definite edge. He wasn’t wrong.

“I just didn’t know what to say,” she explained, trying to avoid any more yelling. “What are you supposed to say when you find out that your delusional  _ best friend _ isn’t actually delusional and is, in fact, the devil he’s always said he was? How was I supposed to know how to handle that?” 

Lucifer turned away, grabbing his glass and taking a drink. None of the gulping Maze had done earlier. A smooth motion that would look natural if his hands weren’t slightly shaking. 

“I suppose that’s fair,” he acknowledged, after a long silence. 

“I’m here now,” she pointed out.

“Yes … but I don’t understand  _ why _ .” He still wasn’t looking at her, instead glaring down at the untouched keys in front of him. 

“Because we’re friends.”

It’s the only answer that matters, Chloe realizes. They were friends, and she had missed him. They were friends, and they needed each other. 

“After all of this … everything … all that you now know as  _ fact _ , you still desire my friendship?” Lucifer was finally looking at her again, eyes wide with an equal mixture of hope and fear. 

“Yeah,” is all she can manage, heart breaking for him. 

“I’m the Devil, Chloe.”

A fact. Something he told everyone he spoke to every day, giving it to them as a choice even knowing that they didn’t understand the truth behind the choice they were making. 

“No,” she decided, “you’re Lucifer Morningstar.”

His lips were suddenly on hers, and he tasted like whisky and cigarette smoke mixed with sunshine, dust and sweat. Her mouth opened in a gasp and she leaned into him, kissing him back and licking his bottom lip. Their tongues barely meet before he pulled away. They were both slightly breathless from the suddenness of it, if not the intensity. 

“You’ve been drinking,” he stated, worry lacing every word.

“So have you,” she pointed out.

“That’s different. Celestial metabolism.” The words slip out the same way they always have, but this time he cringed at the end of the sentence. As if reminding her of this truth will send her free falling into lunacy.

_ It’ll … pop up on you when you least expect it. Someone will say ‘what the Hell’ and you’ll go into hysterics. _

Maybe it wasn’t so far-fetched of a notion.

“I’m not drunk,” she tried to assure him.

“Maybe not anymore,” Maze huffed. 

They both start - Chloe couldn’t believe she had forgotten that they weren’t alone …  _ again _ . At least it seemed like Lucifer had been paying just as little attention. Maze was still behind the bar, leaning against the counter, and Linda had moved to a stool. 

“Ah yes,” Lucifer gracefully slid off of the piano bench, movements predatory, “ _ Mazikeen _ .” Her name dripped off his tongue like a mixture of both a growl and a purr. Chloe had seen him like this so many times before, and honestly couldn’t believe she had ever thought he was human. Even the air around him seemed to scream  _ danger _ . 

_ Lucifer in particular, if he’s motivated enough and has wings, can really only get his ass kicked by his Dad or Michael, now that his Mom is out of the picture. _

He was all powerful and immortal when she wasn’t around, and she wasn’t always around him when things went south.

_ All you humans are lucky he’s such a relaxed dude. _

Lucifer Morningstar was the Will of God.

_ From any angel standards, Lucifer is a free love artsy stoner who doesn’t listen for shit, too caught up in what  _ he _ thinks about stuff.  _

Chloe realized something important more suddenly than she’s ever realized anything in her life. Lucifer Morningstar is  _ the devil _ . A  _ fallen archangel _ . A super powerful inhuman being, who had probably been treating their suspects delicately in comparison to what he  _ could _ do.

Also, he’s currently upset with  _ his demon _ . 

Chloe snapped back to the present before Lucifer reached the bar. Maze was standing straight, still, and silent. She almost looked like she was at parade rest. Neither of them had broken eye contact since Lucifer first looked her way. 

Not something humans would be able to accomplish, not in this situation.

“For what reason would you think I’d allow you so much as  _ near _ me?” he asked her with a smile, even while the venom in his voice hadn’t faltered for a moment. 

“I’m here for punishment,” Maze stated, for once not with any of her usual snark. Lucifer’s surprise seemed to only last a second before he pulled her bodily over the bar by her neck.

“Delightful,” he purred into her ear, “so tell me Mazikeen, just what is it that you would like me to punish you for, hmm?”

He released her, and anyone else would have crashed face first onto the floor by his feet. Maze pivoted herself upright off the legs of a stool before resuming her previous position and maintaining perfect eye contact. Lucifer began walking around her in circles, but said nothing else. It gave Chloe the feel of a ritual, and she didn’t know whether or not her and Linda should still  _ be here _ . She couldn’t bring herself to say a word, the atmosphere was too tense.

“I betrayed you, and Chloe, and all of your humans. I was working with Cain against you, until he betrayed me. I went behind your back again, and destroyed your trust. No apology will be enough.”

Quick, short, and to the point.

“You’re quite lucky Linda spoke to me before I saw you, Mazikeen,” Lucifer turned away, walking behind the bar to pour himself a drink, having forgotten about the glass and bottle on the piano. Chloe still can’t manage to speak, so she didn’t remind him. Maze said nothing to this, waiting. Only speaking when prompted to.

_ Are demons Hell’s soldiers? _ Chloe wondered. 

“Well first things first, as a start,” Lucifer began as he walked back over to Maze and took a sip of his drink. His prowl was distracting, still scruffy and wearing his robe. It was a juxtaposition, how someone could emanate such power so casually. “You will get human justice for Charlotte, Daniel, and the Detective. Bring the police to this hideout Linda told me about and tell them of your capture.” 

Chloe could barely contain her confusion at what he was saying. That he was to have Maze make it up to  _ them _ , not to  _ him _ .

“Once the police have found enough evidence,” Lucifer continued, “you will focus all of your efforts on making amends to them all personally, including the spawn. Charlotte believed that wrongs could be righted, and is now in the Silver City, so let’s see if you can live with yourself after all of that.” He glanced over at Linda, who nodded slowly.

Just when Chloe began trying to process that the continuation of Maze’s punishment was for  _ her daughter _ and that Charlotte Richards was somehow involved, Lucifer grabbed Maze by the hair and yanked her head backwards. 

“Mazikeen, I’d like you to think about something for me,” he purred, grabbing her wrist in a bruising grip to keep her upright, “about what you’ve done. I would like you to remember all of the souls in Hell you yourself have tortured for betrayals, and I want you to think  _ in detail  _ … how many ways would  _ you _ punish someone for such a crime?”

When he let go of her, Maze didn’t say a word, just turned around and headed straight for the elevator. Lucifer did not watch her go, instead taking a seat next to Linda at the bar. Chloe didn’t want to have to talk to him about what she just witnessed, even though she knew she’d have to if Maze was going to be working with the LAPD and spending time with Trixie. Maybe she would just let it wait. Maybe she could ask about it tomorrow.

“That was … terrifying,” Linda gasped, looking up at him next to her.

“I apologize that it couldn’t wait,” Lucifer sighed, giving his therapist a worried look, before turning to Chloe. 

“It’s … fine,” she decided, because who was she to decide what was acceptable for celestial beings, “I don’t- let’s … can we talk about it tomorrow?”

It was late, and she was starting to really feel the strain of the last couple of hours. Of the last few days, really. 

“Of course. Shall I arrange a ride for you two?”

Lucifer had his phone out immediately, no longer looking at the humans in his penthouse. 

Lucifer Morningstar is older than time.

Lucifer Morningstar plays on his cell phone at her desk whenever the work is too boring for him. 

Chloe doesn’t know if or when these thoughts will stop popping up into her brain. It’s beyond distracting, but she can’t seem to control it.

“Is it alright if I stay?” she asked him, and she didn’t know why it felt so important that she did. She just had this feeling that if she left it would be too hard to come back … and they have too much to talk about for her to backslide into the void of silence she’d existed in for the past couple of days. 

“You would want to be alone with me?” Lucifer answered her question with a question, baffled and not trying to hide it in the slightest. 

“Yeah. I want to talk more,” she replied, waiting for a response that was actually an answer. “Is that okay?” she asked again, when nothing seemed forthcoming. 

“If that’s what you truly desire,” he sighed, glancing at Linda.

“I’m good with a ride home,” she said, not so subtly glancing between the two of them.

“Very well. It’s all sorted. Can I get you a drink, Detective?” Lucifer stood, walking behind the bar as if on auto pilot and refilling his glass. Chloe hadn’t even noticed him finish it in the first place. 

“I’m fine,” she declined, worried about the space he seemed to be putting between them. When she had gotten here, Lucifer had been so …  _ raw  _ … but now he appeared to be rebuilding his walls at top speed. She didn’t want to have to try to scale them.

Linda seemed to catch onto this behavior as well, and Chloe was glad she hadn’t left just yet. 

“Lucifer, I think Chloe has some more questions for you,” she gently reminded him as he passed her, heading for the couch. 

“ _ More _ questions?” he repeated, gaze suddenly calculating as he looked between Chloe and his therapist. 

“I’d been talking with Maze earlier,” Chloe quickly explained, not wanting Linda to get in trouble when she hadn’t breached his trust, “she was helping me wrap my head around some things.”

“I see,” Lucifer allowed after a pause, “I’m sure Maze’s interpretations must have been interesting. What has she told you?”

With his focus on Maze it didn’t seem like his walls were coming back down, the opposite in fact, it was as if they were being reconstructed at double time. 

“Well … she told me you were an archangel, and tried to explain what that meant,” Chloe started, hoping she wasn’t about to step on a landmine. Lucifer barked a laugh, sitting his drink on the coffee table and leaning back onto the couch. His tense muscles were a sharp contrast against his casual position, and Chloe immediately abandoned the piano bench. 

“Mazikeen’s explanation would leave much to be desired. I doubt she could have communicated that properly. What else?”

When Chloe sat down next to him on the couch he almost jolted in surprise. The tension in his body increased, but he didn’t move, just stared at her.

“Uhm, she said that any angel or demon can speak any language.”

“No, any angel or demon can speak and be understood, or hear and understand no matter the language. There’s a difference. Mazikeen and I, however, can speak any language. It was a gift I granted her upon our arrival here. To make things easier.”

If Maze got that wrong, Chloe didn’t want to try to guess how much of her brief Lucifer the Archangel history lesson had been misremembered. 

“What’s the difference?” she asked, instead.

“You humans can tell when you’re being conversed with in a language not of this plane. It wouldn’t look or sound as though I were speaking English. Proof of divinity would be dripping out of our mouths, we’d get nothing done,” Lucifer finished his explanation with a hand wave. It seemed as though he was starting to relax, if only minutely. 

“Oh. Well, uh … well, is it true that there’s no such thing as a child version of angels or demons?”

“That much she did get right,” Lucifer laughed, rolling his eyes and picking up his drink. “Anything else?”

“You guys don’t do doors in heaven or hell, except for the, uhm, punishing.”

“Also true.” This time when he leaned back, he seemed more relaxed. Chloe looked around before putting an arm around him. Linda had disappeared, she wasn’t sure when. Again, Lucifer tensed up in surprise, but didn’t say anything.

“Are we going to be okay?” she asked him, resting her head on his shoulder. He smelled a bit like he tasted. Remembering the kiss was distracting, and Chloe was exhausted.

“I … would dearly like to hope so,” Lucifer admitted, finally wrapping an arm around her.

“Me too,” she assured him, lifting a hand to his cheek. His stubble had reached a point in growth where it was more soft than prickly. He leaned into her touch and she couldn’t help but think about how poorly Lucifer had reacted to any form of compassionate, nonsexual touch when they had first met. He did a lot better with it now. 

“You had more questions?” Lucifer reminded her, but didn’t move out of their embrace. 

“They can wait,” she decided, angling her body closer to his. 

“I want you to understand, Chloe,” he stopped her, but still didn’t move away. 

“What do I need to know?” she asked, deciding that it was up to him to tell her what he thought was so important. There was no way she was going to be able to guess. 

“I’m not human, and there hasn’t been a day that we’ve known each other where there hasn’t been a celestial conflict for me to attend to … or attempt to ignore, to be honest. You have been dragged into these, which is unacceptable to me. To choose … to remain partners, friends … for me to be a part of your life in whatever way you would have me, is to accept this nearly as an inevitability.” 

“Okay … and I think I might have a bit of an idea, but if you could clarify these ‘celestial conflicts’ for me?” Chloe used air quotes in an attempt at humor, but it fell flat. 

“Well it all started with my idiotic brother’s plot with our dear friend Malcom, and as soon as that was handled my mum, the Goddess of Creation was loose. Wiley minx got the better of me, She always could. Didn’t send her back to Hell first chance I got, as soon as her soul jumped into Charlotte Richard’s empty vessel. So Uriel came - your car accident was his idea of a warning. Thought he could succeed where I had failed. I tried to reason with him, but he seemed to have gone insane. He’d stolen my sister Azrael’s blade - the only thing that can truly kill a celestial being, removes them from existence - and planned to use it on Mum. In the end, he had decided to kill both you and Mum, so … so I killed him before he could.”

A tear fell from his eye, and she wiped it away. In all of his distress, he didn’t stop speaking. Chloe didn’t interrupt him, didn’t know what to say. Malcom was involved? The  _ Goddess of Creation _ ?! Her stomach started to churn a little and she hoped that she wouldn’t throw up (again).

“That wasn’t the end of it, though, because Mum had been in it for the long con. Turns out, the blade was once part of the flaming sword. A weapon strong enough to cut through the gates of heaven. Mine, originally, so only I could reignite it. Mum planned on having me use the sword to get us all back to the Silver City. I planned to lock her and Dad in there. None of that happened, obviously, because Mum’s divine light grew too powerful to be contained in a human body.

“Fortunately I was able to get Her away from you and rip a hole through the world and into another dimension. Gave her a universe of Her own. To be honest, I thought that would be that. Everything squared away with Dad, still on Earth like I wanted. Never that lucky, it seems.”

Lucifer leaned back and shut his eyes, and Chloe realized that he was probably just as exhausted as she was. To be honest, he looked even more so. She wondered when the last time he had slept or showered was. 

“Let’s lay down,” she suggested, standing up and lifting his hand for him to follow. What he was telling her was all  _ too much _ but she would process it later. At least this information was  _ recent _ . It was relevant to what they were dealing with now. Hopefully she would be able to start unpacking it tomorrow, when her head was feeling less foggy. Lucifer followed her, almost blindly. He didn’t seem to come back to himself until they reached his bedroom, where he veered into his closet to emerge with one of his dress shirts.

“I believe this was acceptable to you once before,” he said as he handed it to her. It was just as soft as the shirt she had slept in on her birthday. The fact that Lucifer’s daily wear button downs were softer than most of her pajamas was ridiculous, but true. 

“Thanks,” she smiled, but wasn’t sure how it came off. “I’ll change later.” Chloe laid the shirt next to her on the bed and Lucifer dithered for a few moments of uncertainty before getting on it himself. Once there, he proceeded to stretch onto it like a cat before turning to face her.

“I really was going to show you after that, you know,” he informed her with a level of sincerity that made her heart hurt.

“I know. I’m sorry I didn’t take any of what you were saying seriously.” The apology took a huge weight off of her, a weight she hadn’t even realized she’d been carrying. 

“You’ve nothing to feel sorry for, love. I was well aware that you wouldn’t believe me without  _ damning _ proof, as it were.” Lucifer smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes or make her feel any better.

“Still,” she whispered, finally lying down next to him. 

“I’d just cut my wings off, and they hadn’t grown back yet. In fact, I hadn’t thought they would at the time. When they did I had fully moved on to other matters of import, plus I doubted you’d respond positively to any other attempts to speak of my divine origins. Inexcusable, really, but so it was. 

“I focused on the Sinnerman, found out it was Marcus Pierce and that he was actually Cain. While he had been the one behind my abduction, it became clear that he had nothing to do with the reappearance of my wings and the removal of my devil face. He had simply removed me from your vicinity in an attempt to use you for his own ends.”

“ _ Use _ me?!” Chloe asked, equal parts offended and confused. 

“Yes, he believed that perhaps you could make him vulnerable - able to die. My Father cursed him to walk the Earth as an immortal human for eternity, and he wanted to finally end his miserable existence. I was … I was so  _ angry _ at my Father, assuming that he was trying to force me into being one of  _ His angels _ again, that I ignored his blatant disregard for you and agreed to help him end his life when his first plan didn’t succeed. I suppose in the end I held up my end of the deal. Ignoring how he treated you, though … it was unacceptable. 

“You see … I … for the first time in my life, I backed out of a deal. The rule I was never to break, how I was planning on proving to Dad that I would never be an angel again, was the only rule he’d given me that I myself found acceptable. To never kill a human. When I stopped helping him, everything became … so much worse. With Mazikeen’s assistance, he  _ manipulated _ you. I didn’t see it at first, believing he was simply who you desired. You wouldn’t believe me when I tried to warn you about him, and I handled the whole thing poorly. I’m … I’ve been trying to get better at these human emotions, but … I must confess it’s not been going smoothly.”

Chloe kissed his cheek where a tear had escaped, feeling moments away from crying herself. Oddly, none of it had to do with the memories associated with Marcus. All of it felt strangely separate. Everything Lucifer was telling her felt so  _ unreal _ despite the fact that she knew it was the truth, and could remember him saying bits and pieces of it at the time that she ignored as being just some of his delusions.

“I gave up trying to sway you,” he continued, “believed I had finally burned one too many bridges - never my intention, but it seems to be what I’m good at. The ridiculous thing is that his plan did work, he loved you enough to perform his first and only  _ selfless _ act and the mark left him. Problem was, once it did he no longer wanted to die just yet. Wanted to finish out this current human life span with you in a life built on nothing but lies. It would be dishonest of me to say I wasn’t beyond relieved when you removed that option from him. Then continuing on as he had was too tall an order, with Amenadiel and Charlotte on his heels, and we both know how it all went downhill from there. I really am a magnet for trouble, dear.”

Lucifer finally finished, and lifted himself up slightly to better look at her. Chloe wasn’t sure what her face was broadcasting, the enormity of it all made her head feel as if it was being crushed by the weight of the information. All of this had happened, and for every time he tried to let her know what was going on, she had dismissed it. But this was all, somehow,  _ true _ . 

“That’s … a lot to take in,” she finally said, just to interrupt the quiet that had settled over them. 

“I would imagine so.”

“I think I need to sleep on it,” she said, yawning as she did. 

“Of course.” 

Chloe rolled off of the bed, grabbing the shirt as she did so. Lucifer remained, lying back down with a soft sigh. She was going to be getting into bed with the devil - literally. She fought the delirious giggles as she changed. When she got back, Lucifer’s robe had been tossed to the ground and he was under the sheets. 

“Lucifer?” she whispered, not sure if he had already fallen asleep or not.

“Yes?” he rolled over to her and paused, looking her up and down. Chloe suddenly became very aware that she was in nothing but his button down and her underwear. 

“Just checking to see if you were still awake,” she said, nervously sliding under the covers with him. It wasn’t often that she imagined it, but she had always thought that if Lucifer managed to get her into bed with him there would be … well, less clothing and a lot of innuendo, for a start. 

“Mmm … haven’t nodded off quite yet. Do you need anything, Detective? Perhaps some water? You do so rarely drink.”

“I think I’m fine,” she said, moving across the bed to hold him. Even if water would be nice, she didn’t want him to leave. Whatever they were to each other, she wanted this right now. Everything had been so topsy turvy, everything  _ still was _ , but now that she had Lucifer back she wanted to keep him close. Have him explain everything until she could get through a day without being swamped down by the weight of the new reality she was a part of. She gripped him tight, pressing into him. 

“What’s all this?” he asked, and Chloe didn’t understand what he meant. 

“What’s what?” she countered, realizing too late how dumb that sounded. Apparently she was officially too tired to even make sense.

“You’ve been doing it all evening. This … cuddling of my person,” Lucifer clarified, “I don’t understand what it means.”

“I guess I’m just … happy. That we’re talking again, that we’re together. I … want you close and …” She didn’t know how to explain it in a way that he would understand. For once his whole tendency to be ridiculously lost in the middle of social interactions actually made sense. Deciding to take a leap, she kissed him.

It was slow, and reminded her of the first time they’d kissed on the beach. Lucifer had been confused then, too. He seemed to be content to follow her lead, putting his arms around her only after she had moved her hands from his sides up to his hair. In a move bolder than what she would ever have usually done, Chloe rolled so that she ended up on top of him as their tongues finally met. 

Even tired and at a loss, Lucifer’s tongue was  _ talented _ . She melted into what was quickly being categorized as the best kiss of her life. Chloe couldn’t stop herself from moaning and rolling her hips. When he moved back she wasn’t expecting it. 

“Chloe,” he let out in a pained sigh. 

“What?” she asked, trying not to feel mortified by his apparent rejection. 

“You don’t- there’s- you cannot possibly  _ want _ this,” he settled on, gently moving them both back onto their sides. He didn’t let her go, though, so at least there was that.

“Huh? How would you know-? What-?” Chloe sputtered, completely thrown. 

“You’re tired, you’re not thinking clearly,” he continued. 

“And what am I supposed to be thinking? That you’re the devil?” That seemed to be where he was going with this, yet again. 

“While that would be a perfectly reasonable reason for you to avoid intimacy with me, I trust you meant what you said earlier,” Lucifer rolled his eyes, now removing his arms from around her, “What I’m referring to is the fact that you seem to have forgotten that you’re kissing a murderer. And you are much too good for that.”

“You’re not a murderer, Lucifer,” she assured him, framing his face with her hands so that he would meet her eyes, “you were in a life or death situation. I’ve … you’ve never had to kill in the line of duty, but I have. It happens, and it’s horrible, but it’s not your fault. It’s not something you can ever forget, but it gets … easier.” 

At first his only response was a small snort, but eventually he wrapped his arms around her again and spoke. “You seem to truly believe that, but unfortunately for me Dad did not give any such caveats to his rule for  _ us _ . No killing humans. Reason doesn’t come into the picture. Plus, by the time I’d gone back to the loft the situation was hardly life or death.”

“Fine. That still doesn’t make you a  _ murderer _ ,” she countered. 

“It- I- these  _ feelings  _ …” Lucifer tried to speak further but gave up with a sigh, shutting his eyes. 

“It’s okay. You’ll be okay,” she whispered, cuddling into his chest. His fingers began carding through her hair, just like they had when she had first arrived tonight. 

“We’ll see.” 

It was the last thing said before they finally fell asleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Comments and kudos are always appreciated :]  
Next update should be back to scheduled Friday posting.


	4. Chapter 3: Speaking With the Devil

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which, among other things, a lot of questions are answered.

It was the first truly good sleep Chloe had had since the whole mess started, and she woke up feeling completely refreshed. She would have been ecstatic, if not for the fact that she was alone in the large bed. For a moment she thought that Lucifer had slipped away from his own home in order to get away from her, but then she took a breath and noticed the sound of the shower going in the background. 

She stood and went to pick up her pile of clothes and shoes, but immediately dropped them back to the floor. In the cold light of day, she noticed the large orange juice stain on her dress from when she spilled her screwdriver, the splattered wine stains from when Maze broke her glass _ ,  _ and smears of poorly cleaned up vomit on her shoes. The whole pile smelled like stale alcohol and sick. 

How had Lucifer been able to stomach her being so close all night? Chloe felt her face flush with embarrassment, and she was suddenly glad that she was alone in the room. At least she didn’t have a hangover, somehow. Silver lining. At a loss, she sat back onto the bed. Going over the night before in her head, the feeling of dread only increased. She had been  _ so _ drunk and so  _ irrational _ . Burying her face in her hands she let out a quiet moan of pure frustration. It wasn’t long after that when she heard the shower turn off, and Lucifer emerged wearing nothing but a towel. His beard was back to it’s usual 5 o’clock shadow, along with his hair. 

“Good morning, darling,” he greeted with a grin, heading toward his closet, seeming to be completely unaware of her inner turmoil. 

“Morning,” she managed, deciding to follow him into his gigantic and pristinely organized closet. She’d once borrowed a dress from one of his ‘overnight guests’. Maybe she’d just have to bite the bullet and do it again. 

“Everything’s laid out, if you would like to shower now as well,” he told her, turning around after having pulled a pair of clean silk black boxer briefs from a drawer.

“I did want to take a shower … but I don’t have any clothes to change into,” she explained, deciding not to go into detail about the state of yesterday’s outfit. If he had been too polite to mention it then, she wasn’t going to bring it up now. 

“Ah, of course. I suppose you don’t desire to spend the day in a pair of my boxers and a fresh shirt?” he inquired, brow furrowing as he looked around.

“Oh. Is that all you have?” Chloe tried to hide her surprise, but didn’t do that great of a job.

“Heh, well Detective, there hasn’t been much cause lately for the kind of revelry and debauchery that would leave me with a supply of abandoned women’s garments,” Lucifer replied with a wry smile. 

“Uhm … right. I can work with boxers and a shirt,” she decided, not wanting to look too hard at his change of habit. Especially since it probably had nothing to do with her and more to do with his current emotional state.

“It will at least do for now,” he agreed, handing her the pair currently in his hand and moving to select her a black button down. “Will Armani suit you?” he asked, handing her a shirt that probably cost more than her rent.

“Sure,” was all she could think to say. There probably wasn’t a single thing in here that she would ever be able to afford to replace if she ruined it, so there wasn’t much point in arguing.

Lucifer Morningstar put the stars in the sky.

Lucifer Morningstar enjoyed high fashion.

She was slowly becoming used to the sudden thoughts.

“How about a belt as well? No sense in completely giving up on style,” he decided, opening a wardrobe that apparently  _ only held belts _ . The one he handed her was gold and she bubbled up in laughter.

“When- did you- wear this?” she asked, trying to catch her breath.

“It was part of a New Years ensemble. Smashing party, the only time Mazikeen wore glitter. Dreadful substance, but it was funny watching her ire over the following months as she continued to find it scattered about herself.”

The story was so  _ normal _ that Chloe didn’t know what to do with it. The past few days she had focused so much on all of the revealed divinity, it had been easy to forget that Lucifer had years of more mundane human experiences. That she had (relatively) normal moments and conversations with him all the time.

“Thanks for the clothes,” she smiled, finally taking a moment to look him over once he went back to the process of dressing himself. He did look a lot better now that he was cleaned up, but she knew there was no way their talk last night had magically lifted him out of the funk he had been in. Human or not, it just didn’t work like that. It was a start, at least. 

“Are we to do a reverse strip show?” Lucifer asked, breaking the train of thought her mind had wandered to.

The abrupt switch from last night’s honesty to his typical behavior almost left her reeling. Having just decided that there was no way he actually  _ felt _ better, Chloe wondered if this also meant he would stop being candid with her. 

“We could,” she called his bluff, crossing her arms and making a point to look him up and down, eyes lingering on the towel still in place. He didn’t seem to believe she wanted him last night, so it would be logical to think that his position hadn’t changed. 

“Or perhaps you’d like me to join you in the shower,” Lucifer raised, because of course he would. His underwear drawer was once again abandoned as he sauntered towards her.

_ Why did I just start a game of sex chicken? _ Chloe complained to herself.  _ Why?! _

“You don’t mind showering twice?” she asked, trying to buy time to think of a way she could play this and not completely embarrass herself. She had come to terms with still having feelings for Lucifer, despite everything she now knew, but this just wasn’t her. It also wasn’t how she imagined them finally … finally sleeping together.

“Oh, Detective, I would have to shower a third time after,” he purred, running a finger from her wrist to her collarbone. It tingled. She hoped her face wasn’t as red as it felt. He was too good at this.

“Alright then, join me if you want,” Chloe said, calling up on her acting skills in order to smile before turning away and walking with a sway in her hip toward the bathroom. She didn’t know for sure if he’d actually follow, and regretted ever trying to use a test to find out what he was really thinking. Lucifer was so stubborn, he’d probably completely delve back into his behavior as normal in order to push away what he was currently feeling. 

Arms wrapped around her before she was fully under the archway that led into his master bathroom.

“Is this what you desire, Chloe?” he asked, breath warm against the top of her head. His body was pressed completely against hers, and she now knew for sure that he was interested. What she wanted fragmented into different levels of priority. The only answer she could give him was the truth. 

“Despite this past week’s insanity, my feelings for you … they haven’t changed,” she told him point blank, “and I do want  _ you _ . Some of the finer details of that are still up in the air, but I want to be with you … if that’s still what you want. I guess I didn’t imagine our first time together to be like this, but if it’s what  _ you _ want, I guess-”

This time when he kissed her, he tasted like mint and vanilla mixed with the same sunshine, dust, and sweat that must just be  _ him _ . Chloe dropped the clothes into a pile at her feet in order to run her hands up his back, up his now perfectly smooth shoulder blades-

She was forced back suddenly as his giant wings unfurled. 

“Bloody hell!” Lucifer shouted, but Chloe could only stare. She had seen his devil face, but not  _ these _ . 

He had been right, at the auction all those years ago. The fake wings didn’t hold a candle to the real ones. Each feather seemed to be aglow with its own light. 

As quickly as they had appeared, they vanished with a roll of his shoulders. He went from irritated to concerned in the space of a breath, walking back to her and lowering himself to eye level as he cupped her face in his hands.

“Chloe, are you alright?” he asked.

“Lucifer, they’re beautiful,” she replied, resting her hands on top of his. 

“So I’ve been told,” he briefly smirked before returning to seriousness, “but you still haven’t answered the question.”

“I’m fine …? Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Well, most humans have a rather difficult time handling divinity,” he replied, moving on from concerned to confused. 

“I’ve already seen your face,” she reminded him, “and even though I hadn’t actually seen them, I knew you had wings.”

“Well, that is true … though you can’t blame me for thinking the reality of them might  _ alarm _ you. Especially since the bloody things just popped out uninvited.” 

“Is that something that happens a lot?”

“Not lately, no. Perhaps healing has made them jumpy,” he pondered, glaring behind his shoulder as if his wings were plotting against him. Chloe barely refrained from laughing aloud. “As it is, they’ve quite ruined the mood.” 

“Only if you let them,” Chloe pointed out, but still picked up the clothes. Even if she still wanted him to be kissing her, he seemed too distracted now. She was decently distracted as well, thoughts traveling back to all of the divine reality she was trying to simultaneously understand and ignore in order to keep going.

“I do believe you admitted that shower sex was not what you truly desired this morning,” Lucifer pointed out, surprising her as he drew her into another embrace.

“Not  _ this _ morning, no,” she admitted. 

“Well then, off you pop,” he let her go, turning to head back to his closet. “Breakfast will be ready when you’re out.”

“Uhm … okay,” she said, even though he was already gone. She walked fully into the master bath imagining that she would get whiplash from his mood swings before they even made it through the morning. Chloe was stopped from delving too far into it when she finally took in her surroundings.

In previous visits she had used the bathroom located in the hall that led to the penthouse’s kitchen and dining area. She had thought that it had been more opulent than a bathroom really needed to be, but it had nothing on this. The jacuzzi bath may as well be a hot tub and looked as if it could easily fit eight people, if not more. Next to it was a massive rain shower. His counter fit four sinks with plenty of room for toiletries, a strip of outlets for hair appliances blending into the gold edging along the counter to ceiling mirror. It was a surprising relief that the toilet wasn’t one of the fancy ones with electronic settings. 

“Damn,” she whispered, sitting the fresh clothes onto the counter and noticing that a towel and toothbrush had been left out for her. Had he done this when he was in here earlier? A quick look into the shower revealed a recessed area full of different products, none of them brands that she recognized but all looking noticeably expensive. 

Chloe didn’t know how long she had just spent gawking before finally stripping down and getting on with it, after which it took her a good five minutes to make sense of the shower’s controls. In the end the effort was definitely worth it. Upon (finally) getting out, she found that his towels were  _ beyond _ soft, the toothbrush had toothpaste  _ built into it _ (excuse me, what?), and Lucifer’s boxers felt so nice against her skin that part of her wanted to steal them. Apparently this was just how he lived day-to-day life, and that used to be one of the most incomprehensible things about him. 

By the time she made it to the kitchen, the breakfast Lucifer had promised her was already done. He was fully clothed, aside from a suit jacket resting on the back of a chair. The sleeves of his shirt were rolled up, and he was just finishing up the plating of the stuffed french toast he’d made them. 

An archangel who predates the universe just made her breakfast. Not even for the first time. Chloe smiled through her sudden nerves and took a seat at the counter. Lucifer sat her plate in front of her before taking his and circling around the barrier between them. It was a little unsettling when he left a stool in between them. He smiled, but didn’t say a word and Chloe wasn’t sure where to go from there so she took a bite of the french toast, expertly drizzled with syrup and strawberry glaze and sprinkled with powdered sugar. 

“Oh my Ggod! This is so good!” she exclaimed without thinking. 

“Well don’t give Him the credit!” Lucifer admonished, “I’d imagine He would find any culinary task far beneath him.” 

Chloe blushed, vague recollections of similar moments like this passing through her head. Before she knew it was all real, she never gave his reactions much thought or attention. Looking at him now, he seemed almost genuinely upset. 

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t- it’s just a reflexive thing, I didn’t mean it like that.” The explanation didn’t seem like enough, but she didn’t know what else she could say. He did realize that most people didn’t actually even think of God when they said things like that … right?

“It’s fine, Detective,” he brushed away the apology and refocused on eating. Chloe couldn’t figure out how they got to this point. Sure, he had seemed to be pulling away this morning, but she hadn’t expected him to grow this distant in the time it took her to get ready for the day.

“Lucifer, what’s wrong?” she asked, wishing she could even hazard a guess. There were too many possibilities. 

  
  


“Don’t mind me,” he replied, pushing his half finished food away and turning to face her, “I believe we agreed to focus on your questions today.” His eyebrows raised, expectant. 

Chloe wanted to correct him, because she had literally  _ just asked him a question _ , but she didn’t - this wasn’t her first time dealing with him. They would just have to come back to his current behavior later. Stubborn as he was, they would just start arguing if she pressed him now. Maybe after he answered a few general world altering questions he wouldn’t think twice about answering some personal ones. 

“Alright,” she agreed, refocusing on her food. Lucifer never went back to his, instead walking away only to return moments later with a drink in one hand and the bottle in another, which he sat on the counter. The entire time she finished eating he paced the length of the dining area, occasionally taking a sip of whisky but mostly alternating between staring at the window and aborted glances in her direction. 

“Will you sit still?” she asked, once the last bite of french toast was gone and she couldn’t take his restless energy anymore. 

“My apologies. Seems I’m not doing a very good job,” Lucifer sighed, pulling out a dining chair and turning it around to straddle the back and grip the top rail. 

“A good job at what?”

Chloe abandoned her plate, just like he had, to sit next to him at the table. She didn’t leave a seat in between them. 

“At being normal for you,” he sighed, finally looking at her head on. 

“What?” It didn’t make sense, nothing about this morning had been normal  _ at all _ . Apparently that’s somehow what he was going for? 

“I beg your pardon?” He looked just as confused as she felt.

“I think I need you to walk me through how any of this was  _ normal _ ,” Chloe said with a flourish of her hand meant to encompass everything that happened since she woke up.

“What do you mean? I cleaned myself up so that I’d look like my usual dashing self, tried to lighten the mood with some jokes, cook you breakfast … that’s normally how things go,” Lucifer highlighted, before his gaze turned accusing, “however you derailed me with ogling and-and incomprehensible nonsense so now I’m not sure what’s going on.” 

“So … you woke up today and decided to just go back to normal. Because that worked out so well before.”

“I thought it would make you happy!” The top of the chair snapped in his grip, but Lucifer just spun around and began pacing again. Chloe’s mouth fell open and she was glad he wasn’t looking at her, because he was bound to take it the wrong way.

“L-Lucifer,” she finally managed, “you don’t have to  _ pretend _ for me. I don’t want that.”

“What is it you  _ do _ want?” he asked, turning back to her and leaning against the wall, “Obviously my attempts at guessing haven’t been working out.”

Despite her urge to go to him, Chloe stayed seated. Now that his supposed attempt at normalcy had failed, it was becoming apparent that he was just as upset as he had been last night. It seemed like she was the only one who had found some semblance of peace after a night’s rest - sober regret aside. Giving him a hug didn’t seem like something that would be well received right now.

“It’s … I don’t know what to tell you, Lucifer. I just want to talk, okay?”

“About your questions or about this?” he asked, flinging his arms up to illustrate the current situation. 

“Both, but we can start with whatever you’re most comfortable with,” she decided. 

“I can assure you, Detective, the answer is neither. Your questions, at least, I’ve prepared for … somewhat,” Lucifer sighed at the end, turning away to stare out the window.

Chloe nodded, taking a deep breath. She had been so concerned with everything happening  _ right now _ that she hadn’t actually gotten her thoughts in order. He had volunteered a lot of information last night, and her mind still hadn’t quite gotten a handle on it all. What she did remember just seemed so far-fetched, even knowing that this divine, celestial … whatever … was real. “So, let me just see if I’ve got this right and you can fill in the gaps?”

His jaw clenched and he gave a single nod, eyes never leaving the Los Angeles skyline.

“Alright, so you used to run hell, where you punished guilty souls. Then you retired … to LA. Why?”

Lucifer scoffed before turning toward her, a small grimace on his face trying to masquerade as a grin. “Well I wasn’t exactly in Hell by choice now, was I? Spending eternity with the absolute worst vestiges of humanity was the opposite of a good time. I’d had enough of it. Took a vacation, decided to make it a permanent retirement. Thought I could finally be my own man,” he crossed his arms and tilted his head, waiting for more. 

“So for the first five years …?”

“Never ending party, love.”

“That was all?” For some reason it just didn’t seem like  _ enough _ . 

Lucifer pushed off the wall and then seemed to hesitate a moment before walking over to her. He bypassed the broken chair and sat directly on the table, looking down at her. Everything about his body language told her how nervous he was, from his tense muscles to his furrowed brow. 

“Detective, you must realize I-,” he cut himself off to rub his face with his hands. After a few deep breaths he was able to continue, “I’m immortal, Chloe. Five years for me is … not what it is for you humans.”

“Oh.”

It made a lot more sense, when he put it like that. Still overwhelming, but at least she  _ understood _ . Her partner had been in hell,  _ miserable _ , for longer than she could comprehend … and then once he finally left the celebration was also long … but then again, maybe just a blip. The enormity of it made her feel as though her muscles were tingling, a fight or flight response that she had to keep in check as she tried to calm herself and push it all back down. Chloe hesitantly sat her hand on top of his, and when he didn’t move she weaved their fingers together. 

“Uhm, okay. Last night you said something about Malcom?”

“Yes. In a foolish attempt to send me back downstairs, Amenadiel raised Malcom’s soul from Hell shortly after he died and tricked him into the task of killing me. Even after I informed Malcom of the subterfuge, it was too late. His fear of Hell was so great that he had been driven insane by it.”

Chloe felt like the wind had been knocked out of her, but Lucifer didn’t stop there.

“In order to stop him from killing you, I made a deal with my Father for your protection. Mum had escaped Hell, and I was to … deal with it.”

“And she was …  _ possessing _ Charlotte Richards,” she confirmed, feeling as though she was having an out-of-body experience. The insanity of it all was overwhelming, the analytical detective side of her detaching from the part of her that wanted to scream and run just to escape this bizarre new reality that was unfolding before her.

“Yes. Charlotte had died, and my mother had entered and healed her vessel.”

“And you- are you … possessing someone?” Chloe asked, feeling lightheaded and gripping his hand tighter as if it would keep her grounded.

“No,” Lucifer assured her with a half-hearted scoff, “this astonishingly inticing form is my own.”

“Oh, uh okay. You also mentioned something about her divine light?”

“A human vessel is too weak to contain a being as powerful as Mum. She did kill Chet Ruiz. Not on purpose - he stabbed her and the light spilling from her wound incinerated his face off. Very Raider’s Of The Lost Ark, really. Then she tortured Linda to figure out what my plan had been, and held you hostage to force my hand. Had she exploded out of Charlotte Richard’s body, I cannot estimate what the blast radius would have been. All lives on the pier most certainly would have been lost. If Amenadiel hadn’t been able to slow time while he and Maze tried to save Linda, I don’t know what would have happened. Mother was desperate.”

His  _ Goddess _ mother had incinerated Chet Ruiz. His  _ angel _ brother had slowed time. Chloe let go of his hand in order to rub her temples. 

“Okay, so uh … then the stuff with Marcus, uhm,  _ Cain _ ,” she ground her teeth and dropped her hands, looking up at him.

“Are you- Detective, are you sure-”

“It’s fine,” she interrupted, hoping that saying it aloud would help to make it  _ true _ . “Just, I want to understand what happened.”

Lucifer hesitated for a moment before continuing. “Well, he had been punished by dear old Dad after becoming the world’s first murderer. Cain was keeping such detailed tabs on celestial movements that he realized that you made me vulnerable. He thought you could do the same for him. When he didn’t die after being shot at that drug camp, he came to me for assistance.”

“So he was- I was being  _ targeted _ .”

Lucifer briefly paused again, gazing at her with notable concern.“Yes.”

Chloe clenched her hands into fists and took a deep, slightly trembling breath as she summoned the strength to keep going.

“Okay uh, this vulnerability thing and- and when we met, your desire mojo, it doesn’t work on me. Do you know why?”

She heard Lucifer’s breath hitch, and looked up. His eyes were closed and his head bowed. “I did not know why at first, but … I believe I do now.” It looked like it had cost him a lot to say that, which worried her. Something that hurt him so much to admit couldn’t be good.

“And?” she encouraged when he didn’t seem like he was going to continue, her voice coming out in a whisper. 

“You’re a miracle,” he growled, springing off the table and once again resuming his pacing. “Your parents were unable to conceive, so Dad sent Amenadiel down to bless your mum. So of course all of this was pointless, Dad knew I’d be leaving Hell, put you in my path. I don’t know  _ why _ , and Amenadiel of course never asked. It- ahhrgh!”

Lucifer ended his speech by grabbing the broken chair and throwing it against the far wall. Chloe flinched at the sound of the impact, but resolutely kept her head forward. She felt like her lungs weren’t working, not getting enough oxygen no matter how many breaths she took. She was a miracle. Lucifer’s dad -  _ God _ \- had placed her here. 

“When- how- Lucifer, how long have you known?” she asked. What she really wanted to know was  _ why _ , but he had just told her that he didn’t know. 

“I found out right before we realized you had been poisoned,” he admitted, slinking over to the counter and refilling his forgotten glass. Back again to avoiding her gaze. 

It all played back in her head. How he had barged into her apartment when she was in the bathroom, trying to get her nose to stop bleeding. She had thought they were going to start something, and then once she was cured …

“So is that why you went to Vegas?!” she yelped, her disbelief bringing her back to Earth after the shattering revelation of her apparent miracle-ness. 

“I didn’t think it was  _ real _ . We were both  _ manipulated _ . I left to try to give you back your  _ choice _ , your  _ free will  _ … but I couldn’t stay away.” Lucifer’s hand was shaking, so much so that he had to sit down the glass. It was all too much, but at the same time the logic was also what she had come to expect from him over the years. 

If he thought his dad - if he thought  _ God _ \- wanted him to zig, he zagged. As though that wasn’t predictable at all. 

“And Candy?” she couldn’t help but ask. 

“We had a deal. I settled some debts for her, and she helped me to trick Mum. And also … show you that I’m not worth it.” 

“How is that not lying?” Chloe asked, not thinking about who she was talking to. Having  _ this _ conversation with him, her brain (for once) wasn’t reminding her that she was talking to the devil. Right now she was just talking to Lucifer Morningstar, her clueless and infuriating partner. 

“I never lied!” he shouted, eyes glassy as he slammed his forearms onto the countertop. 

“Marrying a stripper to trick me into thinking you don’t have feelings for me?!” How did he not see that?

“Our marriage was completely legitimate. She isn’t an exotic dancer, she’s a singer who owns a club in Las Vegas. To trick my mother she pretended to be a much less intelligent exotic dancer. You believed she was a ‘stripper’,” he put in air quotes, “and I simply informed you of the politically correct term. I couldn’t just  _ tell  _ you, my Mother could have found out and she had already tried to blow up your car. I never said that I didn’t-” 

He was saying that he had to dance around the truth, because if he didn’t his Goddess mother might kill her.

“So what?! If you hadn’t been trying to trick your mom, you would have just ⎼ like, came back from Vegas after two weeks and then what would you have done? Obviously you weren’t planning on saying anything to me about being a miracle.”

“I’m not prescient, Detective. That’s Dad,” he ground out in between gulps of whisky. 

This stopped Chloe in her tracks. For a short moment, she had forgotten. Lucifer’s dad is  _ God _ . Lucifer is an  _ archangel _ . 

“So everything- everything is tied to a bunch of celestial  _ crap _ that didn’t even exist for me until a few days ago?” her voice wavered, in between anger and speculation, with maybe an undercurrent of fear.

“Which I shall do my best to unburden you from,” Lucifer promised, eyes eager and a subtle tear track drying on his cheek. She hadn’t even realized he had been crying.

“What do you mean ‘unburden’?” she asked, standing up and walking up to the counter, bar between them. 

“I … won’t be in LA much longer.” Lucifer turned away from her and began walking away, heading toward the living room. 

“What? Where are you going?” she asked, hurrying after him. He wasn’t really running, his stroll was forcibly casual, but his strides were long and she had no way of knowing what he would do next. Chloe had never seen him this upset before. 

“Never mind that, Detective. This is a waste of time. You must have some  _ deep _ questions you want to get off your chest, so by all means.” 

“Lucifer, I’m not going to just let that go!” she seethed upon entering the living room. He had been heading toward the balcony, but turned before making it past the couch. 

“Then can we not circle back to it? Because I just  _ can’t _ .” His voice broke and it looked like the beginnings of fresh tears were catching on his lashes. Chloe’s heart clenched and she felt guilty for being so pushy. It was hard for her to remember that Lucifer wasn’t running from this conversation like he had so many others. This time he had given her his word.

_ My word is my bond _ . He had told her this so many times.

And there was no way she was going to let him leave, not if she could help it. So if they talked about it later, she could let it go. He deserved her consideration. 

“You promise we’ll talk about this later?” Chloe had to make sure. 

“Yes.”

“Alright,” she sighed and Lucifer continued to the balcony, lighting a cigarette as he went. This time she followed him more slowly. “You said you were fine answering divinity questions?”

“Fire away, Detective,” he tried to smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes and looked almost painful. It dropped as soon as he took another drag. 

“What exactly can you do?” she asked, shifting to half lean against the railing. 

“I’m sorry, what?”

“You know, because you’re a fallen archangel?” 

“Ahh, yes. Well I haven’t exactly hidden any of that,” he frowned.

“I’m sure there’s some stuff I’m missing. Maze made it sound like-”

“Mazikeen’s word is currently in question,” Lucifer snapped before getting ahold of himself, “and I’d like the privilege of explaining  _ myself _ , instead of correcting her misinformation. You’ve seen me draw out desires, you know that locks aren’t effective. I can turn anything on. I have Devilish charm,” he actually managed a small chuckle, “and of course there’s my Devil face. Those are natural abilities, things I can do without my wings. Wings come with power from my Father, and that comes with a price. You play his game, become his pawn. I cut them off for a  _ reason _ .”

It had slipped Chloe’s mind, his talk about cutting off his wings and then him freaking out after he’d been kidnapped and his wings were back. She suddenly felt so bad for not believing him, he had been in pain for  _ months _ because of this, that she couldn’t help but hug him tightly. Of course at the time it had seemed like delusional ramblings, but knowing now that she had ignored something so important, so painful to him … Chloe wasn’t sure how to feel. The sudden guilt was mixed with disbelief. Lucifer’s arms flailed for a moment as he tried to make sure she wouldn’t get burned by his cigarette.

“I’m sorry,” she mumbled into his chest, “for not taking you seriously about your wings.”

Lucifer stilled from his previous flailing, and for a few moments she could only hear the sound of his breath making a slow transition from panicked and hurried to hitching and slow. From her position on his chest, Chloe could  _ feel _ it.

“No need to apologize, dear,” he finally spoke, “I knew you didn’t believe me. Allow me to finish answering your question. Regarding my wings. Obviously they give me the ability to fly, but they also allow me … leeway, in regards to aspects of creation.”

_ They were the demiurge. Michael was the creation power, Lucifer was the will. God handed them the blueprints and they made the universe. _

He phrased that as leeway regarding creation. Her eyes narrowed, wondering how many times he’d snuck in some kind of explanation like that during their partnership. Then again, she immediately decided it would be much better if she didn’t know. Chloe slowly untethered herself from his waist in order to gauge his facial expression. Lucifer looked like he was waiting for a shoe to drop, and she wondered if it would be the shoe he thought it would be.

“Maze said you and your brother made the universe.”

Predictably, Lucifer’s eyebrow twitched the moment she mentioned Maze. It reminded Chloe that they still needed to talk about the  _ punishment _ she had witnessed last night. That was still low on her list of priorities, as far as them talking went - at some point he was bound to clam up, like always.

Then again, he had told her they would talk about it. He’d already agreed.

“Inaccurate. My Parents made the universe. After that it was divided into different planes of existence. The Silver City encompasses the entirety of the celestial plane, and Hell the entirety of the infernal plane. Earth exists within the larger physical plane.” 

“So you made the, um, physical plane.”

“Not truly. Dad was the architect. You could say that Michael, the bloody prick, did all of the material sourcing and I handled construction.”

_ I’m still trying not to  _ scare _ you _ , Maze had said. What she had - probably drunkenly - done after that, though, was try to explain better. Lucifer didn’t seem to feel any such need.

“How about this then,” she sighed, resting her body against the railing, “what  _ exactly _ does having leeway with creation entail.” 

Lucifer turned away to throw his half smoked cigarette off of the balcony, and fixed his eyes on the skyline as he answered, “How about  _ this _ , Detective. Give me a few seemingly impossible situations, the most absurd things a human mind can think of, and I will tell you whether or not my wings could will them into being.”

He wasn’t giving her a list, instead it seemed like some kind of  _ test _ . Chloe scowled and turned to face outwards as well. The sun was glaring down at the windows on the buildings below them, causing light to refract all around them. It was almost too bright, unless you focused on the crisp blue of the sky. She didn’t want to play his stupid game, but worried that if she didn’t come up with some scenario for him then she’d never have a real answer to the question. 

“Traveling in time,” she finally said, deciding that if he wanted impossible situations, she would just run him every cheesy sci-fi plot she could think of - and with her mother’s acting career, she certainly could think of a lot. When she had dropped Trixie off with her a few days ago she had gone on in detail about all of her recent auditions. One of them had been for some low budget short film about a woman who adopted a time traveling dog - Chloe doubted that it would actually get made.

“Not real. If you did manage to create enough instability to go backwards, everything after the point you landed in would have no longer happened. Wherever you ended up would become the present. Forwards is out of the question because there’s nothing there yet. Anyway, I’m not gifted in time, that’s Amenadiel. You’d think you would be able to tell us apart.” 

“O-kay …” and now she couldn’t think of another scenario. The other film her mom had auditioned for was more paranormal than sci-fi, but then again … “Werewolves.” 

“I’m sorry, are you asking if I could make them or if they’re real?” Lucifer met her eyes, looking flabbergasted. 

“Uh, both I guess.” It was so dumb.

“No. Not real - also not going to happen, on the grounds that modifying sentient life to that extent would take more time than humanity has left on this planet. Unless you’re counting the werewolves as still human.”

He didn’t say he couldn’t make werewolves. He said he  _ wouldn’t _ . 

_ I was forged in the bowels of hell to torture the guilty for all eternity _ .

“Did you  _ make _ Maze?” she asked, eyes wide. 

“Not  _ directly _ . She’s not my  _ daughter _ , if that’s what you’re thinking,” Lucifer grimaced and wandered toward a deck chair but didn’t sit down, “I simply created the conditions for demons to exist and shaped them once they did. A little too quickly, perhaps, and without the best ingredients. Lilith had a preference for monstrous creatures.”

He sounded the same as he did when cooking at her apartment, berating the contents of her pantry and refrigerator in between the exasperated explanations he gave while answering Trixie about what he was doing and why. Only this was about demons. And how he helped make them. Because this was her life now.

Lucifer Morningstar could shape life.

Lucifer Morningstar thinks that Kraft Macaroni and Cheese is a deplorable problem of humanity. Lucifer also told her the inventor of processed mac and cheese was in Hell. He still made the stuff because Trixie made a deal with him. Chloe still didn’t know what that deal was. 

“This creation-will-thing. Is this how you made the stars?”

“Oh,” Lucifer blinked, looking a little surprised, “not really. Fire and light are my inherent elements so it was all a matter of setting up combinations of gases to catch flame.”

“Then what did you will?”

“Everything that was a consequence of the stars. Dust went everywhere, the stars each created their own gravity, it pulled in the dust. Dust combined into masses, became spheres - your planets. Everything fashioned on the physical plane was just made out of stardust. Unique properties were given to each planet and Dad chose this one to be the home of humanity, gave it the spark of life. Then it was back to the Silver City, job done.”

The  _ entire physical universe _ . Lucifer Morningstar constructed the  _ universe _ . Yet here he was standing with her on a balcony in Los Angeles, seemingly mid-breakdown. The duality of the situation was more than she could comprehend, a headache was raging near her temples. 

“I think I need a break from the big questions,” Chloe admitted, a little reluctantly. She wanted to  _ understand _ , but it was all just  _ too much _ . 

“Of course, Detective.” He lead her inside and to the couch before bringing drinks for the two of them. She chose to take it as a good sign that he hadn’t also brought the bottle.

“So Linda knows all of that and is just fine giving you therapy,” she tried to laugh it off, but Lucifer’s brow furrowed and he frowned against his glass. He didn’t turn toward her until he sat down his drink, seeming legitimately confused about something.

“Doctor Linda never really asked me about any of that. She has a lot of … existential queries, which I explain regularly, but the topic of  _ that _ past never has really come up. Granted I suppose the present celestial happenings have always been more of a priority in our sessions.”

Chloe’s brain slowly ground to a halt. She wasn’t sure how long she stared at him, but was able to track his expression as it faded from bafflement to worry. The more worried Lucifer looked, the harder she tried to make words come out of her gaping mouth.

“So I’m the only one- the only  _ human  _ … who knows this about you.”

“I suppose so, yes. Are you okay?”

“I don’t know,” she answered honestly, “I- I’m trying to get there. It’s … a lot to take in.”

Lucifer’s gulp was audible, and he looked away toward the bar before draining his whiskey. “You have nothing to fear, Detective. I promise you. I would never-”

“I don’t think you’re going to  _ hurt _ me, Lucifer, why would I think that?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a long one!   
Comments and kudos are always appreciated :3
> 
> Also I just remembered that in the process of writing this fic I did do Lucifer's POV for this chapter and the last chapter. They're no where near ready for any posting, but if it's something you guys would be interested maybe sometime later I could put them up on tumblr or something? Let me know.


	5. Chapter 4: Linda Ex Machina

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which some real communication happens - with help.

His expression reverted back to utter confusion, and all Chloe could think was that at least this was better than his sorrow and rage. “Aside from the fact that my mere _ presence _ has drawn celestial forces wreaking havoc on your life, you now know just what I am capable of.”

“Yeah, but you don’t- you’re a _ good person_, Lucifer,” she sighed, feeling the beginnings of tears in her eyes, “and I know that what you’ve been saying all these years is true, that everyone got you wrong. You’re not _ evil _ and you always try to do the right thing, at least from your perspective.”

“I did, yes,” he whispered, “but I seem to always get it wrong when it counts. I’ve become a _ monster_.” Despite it being empty, he still gripped his tumbler. Chloe could hear it as the glass cracked. Instead of letting him break it, she slowly eased it out of his hand. The anguished gaze she met when their eyes locked made her heart ache.

_ He feels like a monster_, Linda had said last night.

She pulled him close and his body was limp, not hugging her back but not resisting either. So she held him tighter, lifting a leg over his so that she was almost on top of him.

“You’re not a monster,” she whispered, hoping that her words would get through to him but knowing that his stubbornness would be working against her efforts. 

“Detective,” he choked, arms finally wrapping around her, “you don’t-”

“Lucifer, do you trust me?” Chloe interrupted, not wanting to hear him say any more horrible things about himself. She knew that he never lied, that he must believe that what he said about himself was true, and it was _ terrible_. He was _ wrong _ and she needed him to understand that.

“Of course,” he replied, voice hoarse and arms beginning to shake.

“Then believe me right now, because I know you’re not a monster.”

His head was pressed tightly into her neck and as he shook it, disagreeing with her but not voicing it, she could feel the wetness from his tears. A broken sound emerged when he did try to speak, followed by him giving up and holding her tighter. The moment felt like it lasted indefinitely until they were eventually interrupted by the elevator.

Snapping to attention, Lucifer stood, gently removing Chloe from him and leaving her seated on the couch. A courier emerged from the elevator, carrying what seemed to be dry cleaning. The moment of normal life after all of the hours spent alone talking about things she wasn’t built to comprehend pushed Chloe’s mind back into a small semblance of working order. 

Lucifer, the _ devil_, her _ partner _ … was going through the kind of trauma after Pierce - _ Cain’s _ death that in normal circumstances (not that she even knew what normal was anymore) would lead to a mandatory medical leave after a failed psych eval. Putting what he was going through into _ human _ terms helped - it made Chloe realize that she couldn’t help him on her own, wasn’t trained for this and was going through too much herself to even properly call on the basic training she did have - but she knew someone who could.

While he was distracted by paying the courier, Chloe slipped into the bedroom and called Linda.

“_Chloe? _” she answered right away.

“Hey. Are you busy right now, like with a patient?”

“_No … Chloe, it’s Saturday. _” 

She couldn’t believe she’d forgotten what day it was. That wasn’t something she wanted to get into right now, though part of her wondered how long she could keep compartmentalizing before it would become too much.

“Do you think you could come back to Lux?” she asked, “Lucifer … he’s going through a lot and I don’t think- I’m not- my help isn’t working,” Chloe settled on, trying not to cry.

“_Of course _ ,” Linda answered right away, “_does he know I’m coming? _”

Chloe cringed. Impromptu therapy probably wasn’t something she should spring on him. “Uhm no, not yet … one second.”

Ducking back into the living room, she found the delivery man had gone and the dry cleaning was now tossed onto the back of the couch. Lucifer was leaning behind the bar, holding himself up with tense arms. He was staring at her as if he’d heard the whole conversation, and Chloe wondered if he _ had_. Did he have some crazy supernatural hearing?

“Hey, do you want to see Linda?” she asked, trying not to feel swamped by the guilt coming from not asking him before making the call.

“Obviously you think it best,” he replied, words clipped and jaw clenched. 

“Lucifer, only if _ you _ think it’s best okay? I just called her as soon as I got the idea, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

“Please,” he interrupted before moving toward her, “don’t apologize. I- I do value your instincts.”

Selectively, Chloe supposed. He seemed to not trust her instincts about _ him_. Not that she’d mention that now. It was starting to become more apparent than ever, the conflicting thoughts that must be tearing apart his head. At one point, days ago, she had wondered why Lucifer saw a therapist if he wasn’t actually delusional … and now she was starting to get it.

Chloe had forgotten that she was even still on the phone until Lucifer lifted her hand, deftly switching it to speakerphone in the process.

“Doctor?” he inquired, forcing a smile onto his face despite Linda not being able to see it.

“_Lucifer? How are you feeling? _” 

“I’ve certainly been better,” was all he answered. 

_ Are you okay? No, I don’t believe I am. _

_ I’m the Devil, Chloe. _

_ You cannot possibly _ want _ this. _

_ You’re kissing a murderer. And you are much too good for that. _

_ So everything … is tied to a bunch of celestial crap that didn’t even exist for me until a few days ago? Which I shall do my best to unburden from you. _

Chloe could feel her blood pounding in her ears.

“_But at least you’ve had worse, right? _” Linda was replying in an attempt to give him some perspective.

“I wouldn’t say that, no.”

_ I … won’t be in LA much longer. _

_ Because I just _ can’t_. _

“_I’m on my way over right now_.” The call ended. Lucifer let go of her hand before continuing into the room and sitting on the bed. Chloe turned toward him slowly, afraid of the picture that her mind was stitching together.

Afraid that if she said something, it would make things worse.

Afraid that if she _ didn’t _ say something, things would become catastrophically worse.

“Would you like some lunch?” he asked, looking both wary and eager to please.

_ Are you okay? _

_ Shall I arrange a ride for you two? _

_ Do you need anything, Detective? Perhaps some water? You do so rarely drink. _

_ I suppose you don’t desire to spend the day in a pair of my boxers and a fresh shirt? _

_ Is this what you desire, Chloe? _

Lucifer had been trying to take care of her since the moment she got here. Answering all of her questions ⎼ obviously it wasn’t for him, but she just hadn’t been able to keep her head on straight before. Chloe was well aware that she was barely able keeping it together now, though being sober did help. Humans really, _ really _ weren’t built to handle divinity. Not even her and her apparent … miracle-ness. Whatever _ that _ meant.

What she did know was that she couldn’t keep thinking about him as ‘the devil’ anymore. It was just going to keep derailing her, and there were more important things to worry about, because it really wasn’t like Lucifer had suddenly become the devil - he had _ always _ been the devil. Context would come with time, _ had to _ come with time because …

_ I thought it would make you happy! _

_ Obviously my attempts at guessing aren’t working out. _

_ I never said that I didn’t … _

Lucifer Morningstar once fell from heaven, and currently thinks he has never felt worse.

Lucifer Morningstar wants to make her happy, because he …

“Sure,” she managed a smile despite the way she could feel her eyes welling with tears, “what do you have in mind?”

They went into the kitchen, where Lucifer made paninis and continued ignoring the dishes they had abandoned at breakfast. Small talk was stilted, and Chloe found that she really wasn’t that hungry despite how delicious the food tasted.

“Lucifer?” she asked once she gave up on eating, having not finished more than a quarter of the sandwich. Linda would be here any moment and she just needed to say something before she left them alone to talk.

“Yes?” He had eaten even less than her, maybe two bites. Chloe wasn’t even sure why he made himself one. 

“I just wanted you to know … I don’t want you to go anywhere. I want you to stay … with me … with all of us … on Earth.” She felt like her cheeks were on fire and hoped her blush wasn’t too intense. Blushing didn’t even make sense, earlier she had been talking to him about _ shower sex_, but for some reason it was more embarrassing to put herself out there like this. 

“You want me-”

The elevator dinged and Chloe jumped a little. Lucifer immediately stood and strode to the other half of the penthouse while she followed more slowly. She just wanted to say hi to Linda and thank her for her help both now and yesterday. For being there for her.

“Good afternoon, Doctor,” Lucifer greeted, smiling tightly as he welcomed Linda into his home with stiff movements. 

“Lucifer!” Linda immediately hugged him and he went predictably still.

“Now, now,” he patted her shoulder awkwardly before deftly stepping away. Once Chloe reached them she could see his confused expression. 

“Sorry, that was- I had been worried,” Linda apologized for her lack of professionalism, “Why don’t we sit down?”

Lucifer glanced at his couch but didn’t move. “I’m not sure the penthouse is arranged well for therapy,” he muttered. After a few moments he walked over to the furniture and started moving it around with a supernatural ease that Chloe had to stop paying attention to immediately in order to focus. She decided she would take the moment of obvious procrastination to speak with Linda.

“Thanks for coming,” she whispered, giving her friend a hug, “and thanks for your help last night. I know I was kind of a wreck.”

“You were fine, Chloe, and think nothing of it. It’s a lot to handle, and I think you’re doing remarkably well.”

“Hah right, but … still. I should probably leave you guys to it, yeah?”

“What?” Lucifer stopped moving his armchair, standing ramrod straight and looking at them with panic in his eyes.

“Well I thought, you know, that you guys should talk privately? For therapy?” she explained. It wasn’t as though she _ wanted _ to leave, but she also didn’t want to intrude.

“Right,” Lucifer clenched his jaw and turned back to his furniture. Chloe felt as though her heart had been cut up and was now bleeding.

“I could stay,” she found herself offering before immediately remembering why she had been planning on going in the first place, “but I don’t want you to feel like you can’t say something to Dr. Martin because I’m here.”

Said doctor had been notably quiet throughout the whole exchange, and still didn’t seem to be offering anything. She was just watching the two of them attentively.

“Any- anything I tell the doctor I … I want to be able to say to you,” Lucifer admitted, not meeting her eyes.

“Okay,” she sighed, smiling a little at his admission. 

“And besides,” he started, continuing his living room alterations, “humans do therapy together all the time! Like the couples therapist we went to undercover, or that grieving group session led by the murderer. Dr. Linda, you were there for that one! And let’s not forget all of those poor sods that gather together because they can’t handle their drugs.”

Stepping away from the chair he had been meticulously placing, Lucifer turned and waved them into the room. He had repositioned everything so that it resembled Linda’s office. The only real difference was the second armchair next to where Linda would be sitting. Chloe wondered if he expected her to sit there.

“Thank you, Lucifer,” Linda smiled before taking her seat, “and it’s perfectly acceptable to do this together.” Following his therapists lead, Lucifer elegantly folded himself in the middle of his couch, resting a foot on his knee and stretching his arms across the back of the cushions before immediately moving them to rub his face. It reminded Chloe of how upset he really was behind all of his babbling and distractions. She still hadn’t moved.

“Uhm, where should I sit?” she finally asked after a few silent moments.

“Where would you be most comfortable?” Linda - the doctor, because that’s what she was right now - asked her, to which she could only shrug. “It’s fine if you’d like to stand for now.”

Chloe didn’t want to stand, so she ended up sitting on the edge of the couch. Since it was so large, she felt like Lucifer still had space - if that’s what he needed right now.

“Alright,” Doctor Martin began, “it’s been a very difficult time for both of you. To get started, Lucifer, what is _ most _ bothering you right now?”

“I haven’t exactly been keeping a ranking,” he scoffed, crossing his arms in front of his chest. 

“Then what comes to mind first?”

“The Detective,” was his immediate answer, looking at her for a split second before immediately turning back to his therapist.

“What about Chloe?”

“I don’t understand what’s happening.”

Chloe’s brows furrowed. He had said that earlier, when she first arrived and again before they fell asleep. It hurt a little, to know that she hadn’t been able to _ help _ him understand.

“What exactly is it that you don’t understand?” Linda patiently continued the line of questioning.

“She- she _ knows. _ She _ was there_, and yet … not only did she _ come here_, but-” Chloe had to dig her nails into her thighs to stop herself from sliding over to him, “but she insists that- that she _ wants _ me … and I- I don’t understand.” Lucifer now fully turned toward her, eyes broadcasting a deep confusion.

“Maybe Chloe could explain her actions. Would that help?”

To this Lucifer nodded slowly, but with a decided wariness. Chloe could tell that this wasn’t something he would have asked of her on his own. 

“Chloe? Is this something you would be comfortable with?” Linda asked her, and Chloe realized that this was the part where she was supposed to start talking.

“Yeah, uh … I know I didn’t really take it all _ great _ at first but I- I thought everything over and really, nothing’s changed,” Lucifer looked like he was about to interrupt so she pushed onward more quickly, “I mean plenty has changed, I have way too much new information to sort through and reality has shifted _ so much_, but I mean … nothing between us has changed, not really. You didn’t just _ turn into the devil_. You were always ‘the devil’,” she cringed slightly as she did air quotes, not knowing how to make herself understood _ now _ if she hadn’t been able to before, “I mean you talk about it constantly. You’ve never lied about it, even though everyone thought you were crazy. Anyway, I don’t- I mean I do _ care_, because I care about _ you _ and obviously the whole- it’s a _ big _ part of your life, but I mean … I mean what I said that night. You’re not the devil to me. You’re just Lucifer.”

Finally meeting his gaze as she finished, he looked _ wrecked _. His eyes shone with unshed tears and it seemed like he was trying to hold his breath.

“Lucifer?” the therapist prompted. His gaze snapped to Linda and then back to her.

“It doesn’t _ make sense _,” he admitted with a cry that was part scream and part sob, ducking his head and pulling his hair. Shutting his eyes allowed some of his tears to escape and Chloe moved from gripping her thighs to the couch cushions in order to keep herself in place. The urge to comfort him was so great.

“What about Chloe’s feelings is confusing to you?”

“She’s _ smart_, Doctor! She should know better, better than to _ want _ me or- I obviously don’t _ deserve _ her! I _ killed a human_, I _ made sure _ he went to Hell! Try as I might, I _ cannot _ be _ good enough _ for her and I deserve to be _ punished_!”

For a moment there was silence. Chloe wanted to say something, _ anything _, but she would let Dr. Martin direct them. She had been kind enough to come over here on a day off, so she would do this however they were supposed to.

“You say you deserve punishment,” the doctor began slowly, “… what exactly do you mean by that?”

“Well, I need- I …” Lucifer shifted his gaze to the window, no longer looking at either of them, “of course I’ll have to go back.”

“To _ Hell _?!” Chloe screeched before immediately covering her mouth. So much for just following Linda’s lead. Lucifer said nothing, just continued looking out at the clear blue sky.

“H- how would going _ to Hell _ help the situation?” Even Linda was thrown. 

“It’s what I deserve. I’m … guilty,” he choked, still staring into the sun. 

“So … you want to punish yourself.”

“That’s what I _ do_. I punish the guilty.” His voice seemed hollow.

“But you’re not,” Chloe interrupted, “Lucifer you’re not _ guilty_. Not of a crime.”

“Not all those in Hell have been found guilty of a _ crime_, Detective. All a human has to do is _ feel _ enough guilt to weigh down their soul.”

The explanation felt so clinical. It was along the same lines as what he had told her before, back when she didn’t believe him. Hearing it now put everything into a new light.

“Okay well, what about if you stop feeling guilty? It doesn’t last forever, and you haven’t even given yourself a week,” she tried.

“Chloe is right, Lucifer,” Linda agreed, “you haven’t had time to really process recent events. Going to Hell would be … rash.”

“I’d hardly think so. Technically I’m already supposed to be there.”

“Yes, that may be true but have you tried to look at this all from a more … human perspective?” the doctor asked. 

“Isn’t that what I’m doing right now?” He finally turned his head, looking bewildered.

“No, this would involve you thinking about the situation as if _ you _ were human.”

“But I’m _ not _ human, and that’s the point,” Lucifer asserted through clenched teeth.

“We know. It’s just an exercise.”

“Very well,” he capitulated, laying his head to rest on the back of the couch and shutting his eyes, “direct me then.”

Chloe honestly couldn’t tell if he thought Linda was going to hypnotize him or if he was just tired. He definitely looked exhausted, but with Lucifer you could never be too sure.

“Sometimes _ humans _ find themselves in situations where all of their choices will lead to unpleasant outcomes. When these moments happen, the best choice becomes the one that a person can _ live _ with. The _ humans _ who choose dangerous professions come into contact with these more often. If we’re to use the ten commandments as a reference, _ humans _ also have a no kill rule from God. We all obviously don’t follow it, but not every _ human _ who kills ends up in Hell. Chloe is a police officer, a detective. She’s killed before, in the line of duty. Do you think she’ll end up in Hell?”

Lucifer immediately jolted up, eyes flashing red for a moment (a moment that Chloe decided never to bring up again, both for the fear that flooded her system in an automatic response and the fear of hurting _ him_). “She would _ never_.”

It was quiet for a moment after that, before Dr. Martin continued. 

“So, Chloe … when you’ve been forced to protect yourself by ending a suspect’s life, have you ever felt guilty?” the therapist asked her. Lucifer turned to look at her for the first time in what felt like far too long, seeming to be heavily invested in her answer. 

“Of course I do,” she replied honestly, hoping that he would understand, “I always regret it. It’s never something I want to do, and it’s not my job to decide who lives and who dies whether they’re guilty or not.”

“But Detective, that’s completely diff-”

“It’s not, Lucifer,” Linda took over, “It’s a _ human perspective_. Whether or not guilt weighs on you is a process that is completed over a _ human lifetime_. You may be immortal, but deciding to go to Hell now really would be the _ human _ equivalent of committing _ suicide _ the moment any guilt was felt without taking the lifetime allotted to come to terms with our choices.” 

No one said a word, and Chloe wasn’t sure she’d be able to hear them if they did. Her ears were ringing. 

“So,” Lucifer finally started, voice cracking, “you think I should … wait? For how long?”

“We can figure that out in time,” was Linda’s answer.

Chloe finally stopped resisting and scooted over until her thigh was almost touching his. He looked down at her, surprised, before turning back to his therapist. “You do realize that no matter how long I wait, Heaven will never be an option for me.”

“That may be so, but there’s a difference between you going to Hell to punish yourself and going to Hell to rule it.”

With a huff Lucifer stood up before looking around and then retaking his seat. “I don’t think I prefer at home therapy,” he sighed, running a hand through his now messy hair, “can’t very well leave when I’m done.”

“We can stop if you want to. In fact, Chloe, what about you? What has been bothering you the most?”

Despite feeling put on the spot, she did her best to answer. Lucifer obviously needed a break and if Linda could help _ him _ , maybe she could help her as well. “Aside from the general reality shift, which is just going to take time, I think, I just- I feel like a horrible friend,” she admitted, “I needed time to think and was so focused on what it meant that the devil and God are real that I never thought about how Lucifer was handling all of this. It was like- like I forgot _ who _ he was and focused so much on _ what _ he was that I just- I just didn’t think.”

“Detec-”

Linda held up her hand and he snapped his mouth closed. Appreciating his effort, Chloe grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze before continuing, tightening her grip as she did. “Lucifer, you … you were _ hurt_, badly, both physically and _ emotionally _ and I just- I didn’t even notice until yesterday! And it’s not like we would have had to talk for me to figure it out, either. I _ saw _ all of the bloody feathers, I _ knew _ that you had just killed Mar- _ Cain_. I never thought you were lying to me about not killing humans. I’m a _ detective _ and if I had stopped being so self-centered for _ one second _ I should have figured it out on my own!”

Tears were flowing freely down her cheeks, and as soon as she finished speaking Lucifer raised the hand she wasn’t holding and began wiping them away. His jaw looked tight with the effort of holding back whatever words he had been wanting to say. 

“I would never fault you for thinking of yourself for once, when you spend all of your time thinking of others,” he told her, looking so sincere that Chloe gasped. The involuntary blink let loose a fresh line of tears, which Lucifer wiped away as if on auto pilot. 

“It’s perfectly normal for you to feel this way,” Linda assured her, and Chloe almost jumped - for a moment she had slightly forgotten that the therapist was there - before focusing on the doctor, “and what matters now is that you move forward. That you _ both _ move forward.”

“Because going backwards is not good for anyone,” Lucifer whispered so lowly that Chloe was pretty sure she was the only one who could hear him.

“Also,” Linda continued, “I think the two of you should really have a discussion about your relationship. Personal and professional. It doesn’t have to be now, I don’t need to be involved, but I think it would really help both of you to come to an understanding. Have some _ healthy _ communication.” 

As soon as the doctor suggested it, Chloe realized she _ needed _ it to happen. And surprisingly she _ did _ want to do it now. She had never really considered going to therapy (it had never seemed like something she needed, grief counseling after her dad died aside) but right now, with Lucifer, she didn’t see it going better without his therapist present. Finally she understood just how much his appointments with Dr. Martin _ helped _ him, even with the small stuff that anyone else - anyone _ human _ \- would find completely normal.

Because before this, Chloe had thought she was being clear about what she wanted. Before all of this, she hadn’t really connected the part where Lucifer being _ a fallen archangel _ and therefore _ not human _ would explain so much of his confusion with social interactions, with _ feelings_, and his general seemingly erratic behavior.

“Can we talk about it right now?” she found herself asking, turning to look at Lucifer. It was his opinion that mattered.

“That … might be helpful,” he slowly agreed, even as a trace of fear entered his expression. 

“I want to move forward with you,” Chloe began, “and I meant what I’ve been saying. That even when I was trying to wrap my head around everything, I _ missed _ you, and my feelings for you haven’t changed. I’m not saying that all of this … devil stuff won’t be hard for me, but I know how I feel.” She wanted to finish it by telling him. Telling him that _ she loved him_. Unfortunately she was worried that he wouldn’t take it well. That it would be too much for him. She also would prefer to share that fact with him when Linda wasn’t there. If she could.

Lucifer wrapped her in an almost constricting embrace. “You may have me in whatever way you wish.” The words felt like a vow.

“Lucifer, based on- building off our previous sessions … what is it that _ you _ desire in your relationship with Chloe?” Linda asked, prompting him with his own constant question of others. His brow furrowed, and he looked almost _ put out_. 

“I desire for the Detective to be alive and happy,” he stated so simply, as if it wasn’t one of the most beautiful things Chloe had ever heard him or maybe even _ anyone _ say. Because it wasn’t even about their relationship, Linda hadn’t been specific. _This _ was Lucifer’s desire. What the devil wanted most in this life.

“And as for your relationship with her?” his therapist prompted him further.

“Whatever she desires.”

“But what do _ you _ desire? If you don’t let her know, how will you know if the two of you desire the same things?”

Listening to Dr. Martin having to explain something as simple as basic interpersonal communication to Lucifer affected Chloe in a way that was beyond describing. Her daughter wasn’t even ten yet and knew this kind of stuff, but her partner really was truly _ lost _ when confronted with it. He hadn’t been given an example to follow or taught by his own parents.

“I would like to … _ try _ to … have a _ romantic _ relationship,” Lucifer admitted, seeming as though it had cost him a lot to say the words.

“I’d like that too,” Chloe replied, freeing an arm from where his were still wrapped around her in order to cup his cheek. 

“I just- I’m not sure I know how. I’m afraid I may mess it up, do quite poorly as I have with everything else.”

Lucifer Morningstar didn’t lie. He really believed this. She was suddenly _ so glad _ that Linda was still with them.

“Relationships take work,” his therapist explained, “but it’s something the two of you will _ share_. Something to figure out _ together_.” 

“I want to try,” was all she could tell him. It was the truth.

“Very well.”

Two words and Lucifer seemed to crumble. His body drooped, his hold on her loosening so he could lean further into the couch cushions. Exhaustion was evident not only in his face but in the lines of his body.

“I think this has been one of our most productive sessions,” Linda smiled, standing up, “Feel free to call me for anything, you two. I’ll just let myself out.”

Chloe hugged her before she left, Lucifer letting her leave him with no resistance. When she looked back over to see if he was going to say goodbye to the doctor, she realized he was asleep. She had never imagined him as the kind of person - _ being _ \- who could just drop off like that.

“Is he okay?” she whispered, following Linda to the elevator.

“He should be fine. Did he sleep last night?”

“Yeah?”

“Before that I don’t think he had really slept since … you know. I think he has a lot to make up.”

Chloe remembered the last time that Lucifer hadn’t been sleeping. How poorly she had treated him. She couldn’t think about that now, though. They were going to move forward. After another hug and goodbye, Linda left and she found Lucifer a blanket. He needed the rest.

The only problem was that she wasn’t tired herself. As draining as the day had been, she didn’t feel the need to sleep. Now she was faced with entertaining herself in Lucifer’s penthouse while he slept (because she wasn’t about to leave him). 

At first she walked around, giving herself a tour. Despite how many times she’d been there, she’d never seen the entirety of his home. It barely took 20 minutes, despite the square footage. Thankfully she was near the living room when her phone started ringing and she was able to make it to the bedroom and answer it before it woke her sleeping partner. Chloe picked it up as quickly as she could, not taking the time to look at the caller id in her haste to make the ringing stop. 

“Hello?”

“_Hey, has Maze talked to you lately? _” It was Dan. 

“I just saw her yesterday, why?” The two of them had never been close, so she wasn’t sure why he was asking … and then suddenly it hit her, a string of foggy drunk snapshots of memory. Maze’s punishment. Chloe carefully made her way to the balcony, not entirely sure how light of a sleeper Lucifer was.

“_I just got off the phone with a buddy of mine. Apparently Pierce had tortured her at his Sinnerman headquarters. Maze led them right to it, and they’re picking up _ piles _of evidence. _”

“I, uh, yeah, I know. She told me last night.” 

“_Why didn’t she come in sooner? Did she know about Marcus, too?! _ ” he asked, reminding Chloe of how _ angry _ her ex was at Lucifer. And how because Dan didn’t _ know _ he would never realize how honest her partner had been about the whole thing, even if she had been the only person Lucifer had really confided in. If she had believed him, so much of this could have been avoided. She clenched a fist, reminding herself that she couldn’t blame herself for not believing something that seemingly ridiculous, reminding herself that they were moving forward now and there was no point in dwelling on that.

“I don’t know,” she replied, feeling like she was channeling Lucifer as she selectively answered the first question and ignored the rest. This must be how he feels so much of the time, avoiding sharing certain things because the person asking wouldn’t believe them - if that was even one of his reasons for seemingly obfuscating and toeing the line of honesty. Despite having so many puzzle pieces slot together now that she knew he was _ actually the devil_, Chloe still couldn’t say she understood the way his mind worked half the time.

Lucifer did say an awful lot of ‘divine’ things, constantly sharing the fact that he was the devil being a main one, even knowing that no one would believe him. She couldn’t afford that kind of scrutiny, not if she wanted to keep her job. 

“_I- I don’t even know anymore. This all is so … _” Dan trailed off. He sounded like he could use a nap as well.

“At least this will help,” Chloe found herself saying, “It will make it easier, proving Pierce guilty and getting justice for everyone that suffered. For Charlotte.”

“_Yeah, yeah. You’re right, _ ” he sighed, “_I just wish I could be _ out there_, you know? I want to be _ doing something _ or _helping _ somehow. _”

“I know. The investigation will wrap up soon, I hope.”

“_I heard that it will probably be at least another week with all the stuff they have to process at that warehouse_,” he stated, and she wasn’t sure how she felt about that. On one hand, they had been suspended with pay so it was almost like a vacation. Then again, she couldn’t imagine another week of doing nothing.

Sure, Trixie would be back with her tomorrow night but what would she do while her daughter was at school?

“Let’s hope it goes quickly.”

“_Hopefully they don’t drag it out. I gotta go, though, I think I just heard the pizza delivery guy get here_.” They said their goodbyes and Chloe sighed upon hanging up. There was still so much to deal with, and she just wanted to _ forget _ for a little while. Maybe she was more tired than she thought. 

Only marginally dragging her feet, she went back inside. Lucifer had barely moved from his spot on the couch, but didn’t seem too uncomfortable. Upon reentering the master bedroom she simply sat her phone back onto the nightstand and took off the New Years Eve belt. Everything else she was wearing - all _ two _ pieces of clothing - were definitely comfortable enough to nap in.

Head facing the archway, away from the direct sunlight pouring into the gigantic windows, Chloe almost immediately fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My schedule changed, so this one came way later in the day than usual, but it got here.
> 
> Comments & kudos always appreciated - I'd love to know what you think!


	6. Chapter 5: Moving Forward

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Lucifer and Chloe take their relationship to another level.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to Noelle for tapping in to beta this chapter, as she is comfortable reading smut.
> 
> **For those of you who are not comfortable reading smut;**  
I think this chapter could be skipped if you wanted, honestly it wouldn't hurt my feelings. If you still want to read the bits of it that aren't smutty here's the cheat sheet: There's a line break and a *** (for those who can make use of the ctrl/command+f feature) marking where the smut begins and ends. In the middle of it there's a section that is separated by a single * on both sides that isn't graphic and has some dialogue for those who may be interested.  
If anyone has better ideas for this kind of thing, let me know!

When she woke up it was almost sunset, and she could feel weight on the other side of the bed. Turning, she found Lucifer sitting next to her with his legs off the side. He was just looking at her with tired eyes and a soft smile.

“Hey,” she yawned and smiled slightly, feeling tentatively at peace. After this morning’s turn around she was more than a little wary of her partner’s mood swings.

“Hello.” His voice was soft, and Chloe reached out to lay a hand on his thigh, craving closeness. “I hadn’t meant to fall asleep on you. I assure you, I am usually a much better host.”

“I went to sleep, too.” 

“Well yes, but only after I nodded off mid conversation. Imagine my reputation if word of _ that _ got out!”

“Heh, your reputation is safe with me.” Using his thigh as leverage, she slowly pushed herself up. While she wanted to be closer to him, she also had a feeling that everything might still be a bit uncertain. Chloe wasn’t even entirely sure of how to proceed now that everything was on the table. Despite it seeming as though they had come to an understanding after talking with Linda, she was aware that it took more than an hour for that much self doubt to go away, and deciding to try to have a romantic relationship didn’t automatically simplify the transition from friends to … more.

“I- well. Thank you.” Lucifer brushed his fingers through her hair, moving some behind her ear in the process. His expression was a complicated mixture of awe and insecurity, making her wish that she could know what he was thinking. 

“How are you feeling?” she asked instead, gently laying her hands on his shoulders before moving them up to rest against the back of his neck.

“Hmm ... better. I don’t think- I can’t see how it will ever just go away, this _ guilt_, but … as we’ve established earlier, leaving you is one of the few things I seem to be unable to do.”

Speechless at the confession, Chloe pulled him into a hug. His arms wrapped around her slowly, but with more surety than she was used to from him. 

“So … are we going to be okay?” she asked him. It was the same question from the night before. A question she had thought he had answered favorably, but that assessment had ended up being _ horribly _ wrong.

“I think we just might,” he sighed in her ear, nuzzling into her hair.

This time when she kissed him it didn’t feel as if it had came out of nowhere from either of them. This time it felt like the peak of a crescendo that had been building up for so long finally reaching its natural point. It was not slow, but it was not urgent. Instead it was simply _ intense_, as if the moment it existed in was being stamped into eternity. The taste of him wrapped around her tongue as his lips parted for her, and Chloe couldn’t hold back a sigh - because this must be what creation tasted like.

He pulled her closer, his hands gripping her lower back hers moved, one gripping his hair and the other squeezing his upper arm. When he moved away from her lips only to begin a line of open mouthed kisses trailing from behind her ear down to her collarbone she didn’t try to reign in the gasp of pleasure. 

“You taste _ exquisite_,” he whispered into the hollow of her throat before licking a small line and sliding his hands further down to grip her hips. Using the hand already in his hair, she tugged his head back up to continue kissing him, exploring his mouth. Lucifer shifted, moving further onto the bed before pulling her onto his lap.

Chloe slid her fingers down his arms and then to his chest. He was wearing too many layers of clothing, but as soon as she slid open the button on his collar he pulled away. 

“Is this -”

“What I truly desire?” she interrupted with a slight smile, not so subtly leaning closer.

Lucifer chuckled, shaking his head. “I don’t think that’s in question,” he elaborated, trailing a hand up her bare thigh and slightly under the leg of his own pair of boxer briefs, where she knew she was wet and apparently he did too. He continued speaking before she had a chance to become truly embarrassed. “No, I just- I’m not sure how this is supposed to work.”

“How what is supposed to work?” Chloe was confused, to say the least. If there was anything Lucifer Morningstar was known for, it was sex.

“Us … having a relationship,” he clarified. 

“Oh.” She remembered his words from before, when they had been talking with Linda. His uncertainty, his fears. This was completely new for him. “If it helps, you’re doing great?”

This wasn’t something that she could really _ explain _ to him - she didn’t know how. Maybe if he had asked a specific question, but right now it was just so _ broad_. She traced a finger down the small amount of skin she had been able to expose and he shuddered. 

“But aren’t there rules?” he asked in a hitched breath.

“What do you mean?”

“Aren’t we supposed to, I don’t know, have a series of dates, follow certain courtship rituals before getting to this point? That’s how it happens on film.”

For some reason Chloe wasn’t surprised that Lucifer’s knowledge of romantic relationships was gathered from what he’d seen on TV. It didn’t stop it from being _ ridiculous_, though. Ridiculous and also sad.

“No, not always. Part of dating is getting to know a person, and we do know each other. Also I’m pretty sure we have gone on a ‘series of dates’.” She smiled at him, remembering their dinner, and the prom he threw just for her.

“But I haven’t even begun to prove myself to you,” he informed her, even as he slid the hand on her thigh slightly higher and moved his other hand under her dress shirt to rest on the boxers waistband.

“You already have.”

* * *

***

The next few moments were almost a blur - lips crashing together, hands roaming freely, and soft sighs - only for time to slow down to crawling when Lucifer once again kissed a path down her neck, displacing the hand she had been using to unbutton his shirt and then proceeding to easily undo three of her own buttons with tongue and teeth. In the time it took her to move past the shocked arousal he slid away from her, removing her borrowed boxers as he did. He flung them on the floor without a thought before resting his hands on her knees and leaning down, lips almost meeting hers but not quite touching.

“I’d like to _ taste _ you,” he asked, gazing into her eyes as he slowly levered himself down the bed while his hands slid upwards. “If you’ll allow me … _ please_.”

Never in her life had Chloe had a man ask to go down on her, and definitely never want to with such _ sincerity _ . She hardly knew how to react to it. The few times she _ had _ experienced receiving oral sex it had never been _ that _ great, but she wasn’t against it. “O-okay,” she answered after a deep breath. 

Lucifer hummed in pleasure before lowering himself down between her legs, leaving a trail of open mouth, tongue swirling kisses from her knee up her thigh, a tingling sensation following in his wake. He repeated the process on her other leg, leaving them both feeling like jelly. Her hands were already clutching fistfuls of sheet just in anticipation. At no point did his eyes leave her face.

Then he ran his tongue up her slit and she gasped. Lapping at her for a moment, his tongue reached close to her clit but barely touched it. He still never broke eye contact. Chloe tried not to squirm. Then his tongue darted inside her and she could barely hold in the moan that wanted to follow. Humming lowly, he moved it in and out a few more times before swirling his tongue around. This time she didn’t even try to hold back.

“Mmm yes, no need to be quiet,” he murmured, after removing his tongue but not moving away in the slightest. Lucifer didn’t wait for a reply before tonguing between her folds again, moving straight for her clit as he inserted a finger. He still didn’t look away, and one of Chloe’s hands moved from the sheets to grip his hair barely of her own accord as she began panting.

His movements alternated, tongue moving in different shapes and varying in pressure, only repeating if she moaned, or sighed, or pulled his hair. It was almost as if he was _ memorizing _ her, but she didn’t have the capacity to think on that for long before he inserted a second finger to pump alongside the first just as he sucked down on her clit. She _ screamed _ and Lucifer held her hip down gently with his free hand as her pelvis jerked without any conscious intent.

Very briefly his tongue moved down her slit, as if giving her a moment to breath, before he curled his fingers _ just so _ and started flicking her clit with the tip of his tongue. Everything had already been building up, but this pushed her sensations to new heights at a pace that had her gasping for breath. Chloe had never been a screamer in bed, but now her frequent moans were becoming shrill more often than not.

When her orgasm came her vision almost whited out, and she was definitely seeing stars. 

She was vaguely aware of the way he licked her softly and slowly as she came down from that previous high. When he stopped, Chloe did notice, higher brain function returning, as his cheek rested against her thigh before he began kissing his way up her body, unbuttoning her shirt the rest of the way as he did.

“Lucifer,” she sighed, unable to manage speaking properly yet, “that was _ amazing_.”

“_You _ are amazing,” Lucifer told her, abandoning his exploration of her body as he lifted himself up and repositioned them both to lay on the bed properly, facing each other on their sides, instead of their previous haphazard position lying sideways across the mattress (though it hardly mattered, his bed was so huge). “You taste _ divine_. I would gladly do this every day, just to watch you lose control like that. It’s breathtaking.”

*

Chloe kissed him, tasting herself mixed in with his normal flavor, and found herself gripping both his shirt _ and _ vest. “You’re still dressed.”

“Ah, so I am. Apologies, I have been quite distracted.” He emphasized his point by trailing one of his hands from her hip to cup her breast, thumb moving to brush her nipple as he gave it a gentle squeeze.

“Well, let’s fix that,” she stated before starting on all of his buttons. He just smiled, letting her undress him and she didn’t get it. How she could have just had possibly the most amazing orgasm of her life and still _ urgently _ want him inside of her, while he just calmly laid there despite his obviously raging hard on.

Asking seemed like something that would be too insecure, though. She didn’t want him to think that she was intimidated or anything. Once she finished the buttons, he helped her pull both the shirt and vest off. Then Lucifer kissed her, and it wasn’t at all what she had been expecting. It was slow yet desperate, and he clutched her hip and her upper arm as if the connection was all that was keeping him earthbound. 

“Hey,” she managed in between kisses, “are you feeling okay?”

At first it seemed like he wasn’t going to answer, lips moving down to kiss her neck. When he did speak the anxiety in his voice matched the tension in his body. “It- this is just so _ different_. I don’t know how to describe it. It’s hard enough to remember that it’s _ real_.”

“Different how?” Chloe ran her fingers through his hair, trying to ignore her own nakedness and her partners half dressed state in order to be there for him.

“Well, I don’t mean to sound crass, but I _ have _ had a lot of sex. Never has it felt like _ this _ , though, and we’ve yet to actually do the deed! All of these _ feelings _ are overwhelming, I can’t- I can’t focus.”

“You don’t have to focus on anything,” she assured him, “just _ be _ here. It’s going to be great no matter what, because it’s- it’s you. It’s _ us_. And we can always stop if it’s too much.”

“I never said I wanted to stop,” Lucifer asserted, catching her hand that had been continuing to caress his hair and weaving their fingers together.

“Yeah, okay.” Chloe smiled, because at least _ this _ she maybe did kind of understand. After everything that had happened between them, reaching this point … even without the added devil-stuff it would have been surreal. Part of it did seem way too fast after everything they had just went through, but part of it also felt like it was a long time coming. Feelings she had been ignoring for so long, and now that absolutely everything was on the table it was just _ right_.

“But … perhaps you should take the lead,” he admitted, burrowing his face into her neck and then kissing it as if trying to take the edge off of however much the admission had cost him.

*

She didn’t say anything in response. Action was what mattered, was what he was asking for. So she slowly moved away and undid his pants, and it wasn’t at all how she imagined their first time would be (and she _ had _ imagined it, even before she was willing to admit it) but when was anything how she imagined it, anyway? 

Once they were both, finally, naked she crawled back up the bed and pulled Lucifer to her so that they were both on their sides and began kissing him - at first slowly and then with more fervor. 

One of his hands gripped her hair. Their legs tangled together. His lips moved to taste her neck, her collarbones, her breasts. Finally she rolled them so that Lucifer was on his back.

“Do we actually _ need _ a condom?” she found herself asking, trying her best to follow her own advice and stay in the moment and not fall down the spiraling tunnel of devil-related thoughts. It was definitely a challenge.

“No, but I have plenty. A lot of fun ones, have you ever tr-”

She shut him up with a kiss, finally fulfilling an urge she had repressed for _ ages _ . Lucifer hummed into it and she reached down to give his cock a few strokes, turning the sound into a cross between a moan and a growl. His arm shot out, reaching toward the nightstand where she noticed a pump bottle of lube sat. Chloe resisted the urge to roll her eyes - it’s not like she was surprised - before swatting his hand away and pumping some into her hand herself. Despite already being wet from a combination of their earlier activities and her current anticipation, she figured that it _ was _ better to play it safe … his penis certainly wasn’t _ small_. They were both panting when she stroked him again, this time covering him with the lube as she did. 

“Are you sure about this?” he asked, looking up at her as she began to reposition herself. He gently squeezed her hips and there was a vulnerability in his eyes that she wasn’t used to seeing, wasn’t sure she’d ever be used to seeing. “This. Us. _ Me_?”

“I’m sure,” she whispered back before sliding down, bodies joining. Lucifer moaned and his eyes almost closed. Her own moan was a bit closer to a sigh until she felt his hands move down to grip her thighs.

It took Chloe a few moments to adjust, to remember to move, but once she did there was no more room in her brain for additional thoughts. Everything was _ here _ and _ now _ and _ Lucifer_. While she had started out seated above him, before long she was horizontal, closer, skin to skin, mouth to mouth to neck, salty skin, gasping breaths, moaning, disjointed words of pleasure.

“_Chloe_,” Lucifer said once, then twice, then again and again so _ reverently _ that her heart felt close to bursting as they rolled onto their sides as one and his hand trailed down from her breast to her clit. If rational thought had been hardly present before, it now had completely disappeared. She was vaguely aware of her own voice, moans that were almost screams, and she found she couldn’t care less. Everything was _ pleasure _ and _ closer _ and _ Lucifer_. 

She kissed him hard as she came, fingers digging into his hair. Chloe pulled back as her body slowly came down from what she could only think to describe as an orgasm high, brain definitely not at full power. Lucifer was pumping into her slowly, kissing a trail down her neck. 

“Is this that stamina you’re always bragging about?” she found herself saying aloud, even though she had only intended it as a thought. He didn’t reply at first, but she could feel him grinning against her collarbone. 

“It is a … bit more of a challenge than usual,” he eventually admitted. “You feel so _ wonderful_, I can’t describe it … I’ve never- it’s almost- this warmth … it’s like _ grace_.” 

“Just let go,” Chloe whispered into his ear. 

“Whatever you desire.” 

Lucifer rolled them so that he was on top and started moving faster, one hand sliding into her hair and the other grasping her side as he kissed her deeply. Just as Chloe wrapped her legs around him, his wings burst forth and he stopped immediately. 

“It’s okay,” she gasped. “Lucifer, it’s okay, they’re part of you.”

His jaw clenched and he began to shake his head, but Chloe quickly put a hand against his cheek.

“We can stop if you want.”

“You- you really don’t …”

“Whatever you want,” she assured him. 

Lucifer closed his eyes and sighed, folding his wings away and shaking as he did so. He kissed her again, moving slowly before steadily speeding up. Chloe threaded her fingers into his hair and began kissing his neck as he pounded into her harder and faster, angling himself to hit at just the right spot. 

“L-Lucifer,” she moaned, pulling his hair and he rubbed at one of her nipples. 

He held her closer, pushing deeper and harder as she came again and he finally reached his own climax. He breathed her name as he did, the word barely audible, before collapsing onto his side.

***

* * *

They both took a moment to catch their breaths before Lucifer slowly pulled out. Chloe shivered as he did, feeling very sensitive. She pulled him close, holding him tightly, suddenly afraid that he would leave. His arms wrapped around her and she could feel his head resting atop hers. 

“That was incredible,” she whispered, feeling as though speaking any louder would break the bubble of calm content that had seemingly formed around them. 

“I’ve never experienced anything like it,” Lucifer replied, one of his hands beginning to massage her lower back as if on auto pilot.

Chloe raised herself up on an elbow and looked down at him. For the first time in longer than she cared to admit, he looked happy, unworried. She smiled and grabbed the edge of the covers, a queue he took easily. Once in between his silk sheets, Lucifer took her hand.

“Detective?”

“I think it’s just Chloe when we’re in bed together, Lucifer.” She rolled her eyes even as she twined their fingers together.

“Quite right … Chloe?”

“What?”

“I just- I want you to know, I- well, I don’t have the best track record, I swear I will do my best to-”

“Lucifer, I don’t need you to promise me anything. We’re both going to figure this out together, and sometimes it will be easy and other times it won’t, but … I think we can do this. I still- I know that all of your … devil-ness is still going to- it’s a lot to try to handle and it will probably trip me up for awhile so I think … we’ll just have to be patient, yeah?”

“As long as you need, Det- Chloe.”

“We’re going to be alright,” she asserted, both for herself and for him.

“Of course.”

He kissed her softly before pulling her into a loose embrace. Chloe had a soft smile on her face as her eyes closed and she was lulled to sleep by the sound of his breathing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading!
> 
> Next update will be a longer one.
> 
> Comments/kudos always appreciated. Constructive criticism is welcome (writing this scene was a challenge I set for myself so I would love some feedback XP)


	7. Chapter 6: Figure It Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which things things may not go back to normal, but maybe they start to figure out what a new normal might look like.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's up way later in the day than I would have liked, but the last chapter is here!
> 
> After my laptop broke and I had to rewrite the last half of this chapter (and in the process throw out parts of my original outline because I had changed my mind) I think I'm happier with this ending than I was with the original one. So I hope you guys like it too.
> 
> Special thanks to Noelle, for pretty much beta-ing over my shoulder due to the frustration and slowness that comes when you end up having to do complete rewrites.

Chloe woke up slowly, stretching her slightly sore muscles and sprawling over the expanse of the large bed. The silk sheets caressing her skin felt _ amazing_, but she couldn’t imagine sleeping in them _ every night_. There was just something warm and comforting about cotton bedding. Lucifer was once again absent, but she wasn’t as surprised this time. For a moment she thought that he was secretly an early riser before glancing at the clock on the end table and realizing it was almost 10am. 

“I can’t get into the habit of sleeping in like this,” she muttered to herself as she scrambled out of the bed and went to pick up the t-shirt she had worn as a dress yesterday only to find all of their discarded clothing from the night before to be gone. With a huff, Chloe pulled the sheet off the bed and wrapped herself in it before tip toeing out of the bedroom. While she doubted anyone was there, she didn’t want to take any chances. 

“Lucifer?” she called from the empty living room.

“Good morning, Detective!” he emerged from the dining area wearing nothing but a robe. His hair was sticking up in random directions.

“Oh, you haven’t showered yet.”

“No, I was going to make you breakfast in bed.”

Looking a bit more closely, Chloe noticed a bit of batter on one of his sleeves and smiled. “That’s so sweet of you. I can help, now that I’m up,” she offered before remembering that she was currently wearing a sheet. “Is it fine if I grab another one of your shirts?”

“While I know I have excellent fashion sense and you’re of course free to loot my wardrobe as you like, your clothes have been laundered.” Lucifer led her back into the room and pointed out the dry cleaning bag that had arrived yesterday.

“Oh! Lucifer you know those were just normal clothes, right? They weren’t dry clean only, you could have just put them in the wash.”

He stared at her blankly.

“You know, washer and dryer?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Do you dry clean everything you own?”

“Of course. You don’t?”

Lucifer Morningstar is the devil.

Lucifer Morningstar doesn’t know how to do laundry.

Suddenly she burst into laughter and found that she just _ couldn’t stop_. Maybe she was losing it, she wasn’t sure, but after everything that happened _ this _ was just the final bit of nonsense. 

“Detective? Chloe?”

Tears started streaming down her cheeks as she just _ kept laughing_.

“I - is this normal? Are you okay?”

Chloe could barely keep her grip on the sheet as she hunched over, trying to calm herself. It was a few more moments before she could finally stop the laughter, but the tears kept coming. Maybe she had been pushing herself too hard the past few days, maybe she had compartmentalized too much information. 

“I’m- I’m fine,” she said, knowing how unconvincing she sounded. When she looked up at Lucifer and saw the heartbreak and dismay in his expression it only made her cry harder. 

“I could leave, if you’d like. Perhaps you need some space-”

“No, no, really, I don’t know what’s happening right now,” she interrupted him, beginning to furiously wipe away her tears with one hand, the other still holding her makeshift toga together. 

“Is- would you like a hug?”

She nodded and soon found herself being tentatively held, and the closeness really did help her get a grip. They were both silent for what felt like _ way _too long, but was probably only a minute or two as Chloe got her breathing back to normal and finally stopped crying. 

“I think this is … Linda told me that this was normal,” she sighed, “uh, the random little … I’m fine, really.”

Looking up at Lucifer, he seemed equal parts taken aback and speculative.

“Well,” he finally said, “I suppose the doctor was a bit … off … for some time afterwards. You truly are taking this all quite well.”

“It’s definitely an adjustment.” Chloe still had not begun to truly analyze any of the information dump the last few days had been, but she figured that the biggest parts had already been dealt with. She knew that he _ was _ still _ Lucifer _ , and she knew that he would never intentionally harm her. That he wasn’t _ evil_. Everything else … it was all the past, or celestial background knowledge and it just- she had time to make sense of it as she went.

What mattered now was everything going forwards. 

“So uh, what’s for breakfast?”

For a second Lucifer seemed thrown by the change in topic, but then he pulled away with a plastered on insincere grin that hurt a little bit for her to see. “I was just about to begin making crepes, actually. Why don’t you take a shower and get dressed, as I believe we’ve missed the breakfast in bed window.” With that he turned around and headed back toward the kitchen and Chloe’s heart sank.

With mechanical movements she dropped the sheet, collected the dry cleaning bag, and headed into the master bath. Once again there was a towel and a toothbrush on the counter for her. She got the shower running much more quickly than she had the day before, but found herself unable to focus on the task of getting ready. 

Despite the progress they were making, everything was still so rocky.

They had _ slept together _ last night and now she didn’t know what to say to him.

Lucifer Morningstar was the devil, a fallen archangel older than time.

She had had sex with him. They were _ in a relationship_.

Her ‘boyfriend’ was the devil. 

“Oh my G- aaah.”

Chloe took a deep breath and realized that she was in the middle of washing her hair a second time, but this time with conditioner. After rinsing it all out she washed her hair again and put all of her focus into conditioning the ends and then washing her body. This shouldn’t be bothering her. She should be _ fine_. How many times was she going to freak out about things she had already freaked out about?

Once she was finally showered and dressed, she slowly walked into the kitchen. Lucifer looked even more disheveled as he leaned against the counter, and the fact that she was wearing a dress while he was still in a robe made Chloe feel overly formal. An empty glass and half empty bottle of scotch were sitting near him, while on the dining room table sat two plates of perfect looking raspberry and cream cheese stuffed crepes with a chocolate drizzle. 

“Hey,” was all she could think to say, nerves getting the better of her as she lingered in the archway.

“Breakfast is served, Detective.” His smile still seemed forced and Chloe steeled herself before walking up to him and taking his hand.

“It looks great, Lucifer,” she told him as she lead him to the table with her, only letting go of his hand once he was in front of a chair so that she could take the one across from him. His smile seemed a bit more genuine as he took a seat, so Chloe smiled back and began eating - they tasted even better than they looked. There was no way she was going to be able to keep letting Lucifer make breakfast if she wanted to stay in shape, though - crepes today and stuffed french toast the day before added up to _ way _ too much sugar. Thinking a bit more clearly - maybe she _ had _ needed to really break down for a moment, because she did feel more focused than she had in days - she decided not to mention anything to him. Sometime later she could nudge him toward making more omelettes and less sweet carb heavy breakfast foods.

“These are so good, thank you.”

“My pleasure,” he replied and Chloe noticed that he had yet to take a bite.

“Lucifer, I - I’ll be fine, okay. It’s, you know, it’s a process. Are you going to be alright?” she asked, suddenly worried that all of the progress they had made with Linda yesterday had been undone when she had gone into hysterics.

“It- it’s difficult to see you in pain, and … intolerable, knowing that I’m the cause of it,” he eventually admitted, eyes on his crepes as he cut into them only to move them around the plate. 

“You’re not, though. I’m not _ in pain_. It’s not- it isn’t about _ you _ , not … not really. I told you before, it seems like ages ago now, but I’m- I _ was _ an atheist. I didn’t think any of this was real or _ could _ be real. I think that’s why- you never lied about who you were, you constantly did … supernatural stuff and I just- I think I kind of just made myself stop thinking about it because it would mean that there was really … anyway, I know the whole ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ line is stupid and usually bullshit, but in this case it’s really just- I have to wrap my head around it all, make the world somehow _ make sense _ again and that’s not your fault. You can’t blame yourself for the fact that my worldview didn’t include God or the devil or angels and demons.” It took awhile and was hard for her to articulate, but by the time she finished speaking Chloe felt more sure of herself. It would be a process, but she now had a better idea of what it was that she would have to work through.

“I- I trust you, Chloe. I’m still not sure I deserve your kindness after everything that happened, but I- …” Lucifer sighed, “I will do all in my power to be worthy of it.”

She reached over the table to squeeze his hand, and he finally began to eat. 

Halfway through her first crepe, Chloe paused with a bite halfway toward her mouth. “Er, Lucifer? Speaking of demons … can we talk about Maze’s punishment? We never got around to it yesterday.”

Lucifer rolled his eyes and finished chewing. “I’m sure she’s progressing through her tasks with vicious determination,” he responded before taking another bite.

“Well, yeah, I can imagine. But could you just explain it a little more?”

“It’s quite simple,” he began with food still in his mouth, beginning to wave around his fork as he swallowed and continued, “Mazikeen did not want to feel guilty and as she doesn’t have a soul, she cannot have a hell loop. Any of the tortures the other demons could do to her wouldn’t truly be punishment. You know Maze, she hates most prolonged interactions _ and _ talking about feelings. I think she’ll feel good and punished by the time she’s had all of those heart to hearts.”

“Okay, but you said that she had to make things right with Trixie. What if Trixie doesn’t want to talk to her? You’re right, I know Maze, so I know that if this is part of this punishment she’s agreed to then she isn’t going to give up and I don’t want her to try to force Trixie into being her friend again.”

“Hmm … well, we can cross that bridge if we come to it,” he shrugged, “Your offspring is quite devious. I would be disappointed if the spawn didn’t take advantage of the situation and get as much as she could out of Mazikeen before declaring that amends have been made.”

Chloe sat down her fork and buried her head in her hands for a moment. This was _ not _ the kind of behavior she wanted to encourage in her daughter, but it really wasn’t worth getting into right now. If they were going to be in a relationship they were definitely going to have to sit down and have a long talk (not that she hadn’t tried to before) about what was and wasn’t okay when it came to Trixie. These chats never seemed to stick, and part of it was due to the fact that the two of them really did seem to have a unique friendship that Chloe didn’t really want to get in the way of … but if they were going to be together that was going to have to change. She’d have to figure out a way to explain some things to him about parenting, about raising _ human _ children, in a way that he would understand.

She was probably going to need Linda’s help.

“Alright,” she finally sighed, “we’ll just- yeah, we’ll cross that bridge later.”

They finished their breakfast in what started off as a tense silence and then veered toward comfortable. The routine of it all was soothing, just what she needed to firmly calm herself.

“What did you want to do today?” Chloe asked after taking her dishes to the sink. She didn’t have to pick up Trixie until that evening, and she wasn’t sure what the best course of action was. All she knew was that by the time she picked up her daughter from her mother’s house she would have to be as put together as possible.

Lucifer stared back at her, brow furrowed. He opened his mouth, said nothing and then shut it again. This process was repeated two more times. 

“Lucifer?”

“I had assumed you would have more questions,” he finally managed.

“Oh, well I do, but …”

“But?”

“I’m really tired of asking questions.” She had been asking questions for days now - alone, to Maze, to _ him_. The answers were never really helpful, they just created more questions. If she tried to ask all of them at once, it would take over her life.

“You’re- really!? The Detective, tired of asking questions?” Lucifer let out a disbelieving chuckle, a slight smirk falling naturally onto his face. 

“Just taking a break. You know, processing what I’ve got so far.”

He stood up with his own dishes and joined her behind the counter.

“This is the bit where you let the suspect stew in interrogation, isn’t it?” he accused, though his eyes were warm. “You’re going to let me dangle and then come back with the big questions.”

Chloe laughed. “I think I’ve already gotten the big questions.”

“No, you’ve ignored all of the big questions. Nothing of biblical proportions at all from you.”

“You’re barely mentioned in the bible,” she pointed out.

“Exactly, rubbish book. Especially now that it’s been translated so many times. Gibberish compared to the source material.”

She waited for the wave of intrusive thoughts, but it didn’t come. It was more progress than she thought she’d have, but that wasn’t to say it wouldn’t happen again. Maybe just less frequently, if she was lucky. It seemed far fetched to believe that they would ever stop completely. Lucifer refilled the glass he had left on the counter, offering her one which she politely refused. It wasn’t even noon yet.

“If I don’t start early there’s no way I’ll have a buzz by this evening,” Lucifer defended himself automatically, even though she hadn’t said anything. “Then again, if you stick around I could get properly pissed tonight.”

The reminder that she made him vulnerable was enough to jump start her brain before a comment about people coming to Lux on a Sunday night could slip out. Instead she just stayed quiet as she followed him into the living room. All of the furniture was still rearranged in ‘therapy position’. On the coffee table was the vase. _ 82 bullets_. Scenes from inside the warehouse flashed behind her eyes. Chloe grabbed Lucifer’s arm before he could make it to the closest chair.

“What is it?”

“I do have one question for today. Well, it’s actually more of a request?”

“A request?”

“Yeah. I was wondering if you could, uhm, show me your face.”

“My …” His arm dropped from her grip in a deadweight and his expression shut down.

“I just wanted to see it again in a- I mean, it was such a shock last time and now that I’m prepared, I thought-”

“Detective, I use that face to _ punish _ people. You must understand why I wouldn’t want you to see it.”

“You were going to show it to me before. At the precinct. Why not show me now?”

Lucifer’s mouth fell open, but he had no rebuttal. After a moment he backed away a couple steps and then looked around the room - anywhere but at her.

“Very well,” he finally said, looking down and tightening the sash on his robe before finally meeting her eyes, “just remember, I mean you no harm.” Lucifer raised his hands before his skin shifted before her eyes.

Despite how much she tried, Chloe couldn’t hold in a gasp as she took in his burnt, cratered skin and glowing red eyes. It was _ horrifying_, not just due to what it meant for reality but because of how _ painful _ it seemed. There was a deep unnaturalness of a being looking that ravaged - no human could look like that and still be _ alive_. While his eyes were definitely supernatural, the rest of his face was really only monstrous in that whatever creature could live through that would have been through something catastrophic.

_ Lucifer Morningstar was once flung from the top of this dimension to the very bottom, and the wounds never healed. _

The thought had popped into her head days ago. Now it was playing in her head on a loop. She heard a strangled high pitched cry, and it took Chloe much longer than it should have to realize that the sound had come from her. 

“D- Chloe? Are you alright?”

“Did it hurt?” she asked instead of answering.

“Yes.”

She could feel a few tears unwillingly slide down her face as she reached out to cup his cheek. “Does it still hurt?”

“No.” Suddenly his skin shifted back to normal - or if not normal, at least what she was used to. “I think that’s enough of that for one day.” Lucifer drank the rest of his scotch in one go and then pulled out a cigarette from the case sitting on the coffee table. Chloe quickly wiped away her tears and pulled him into a hug before he had the chance to retrieve his lighter. This time he only hesitated for a second before reciprocating. 

“I’m so sorry,” she told him, not even sure what exactly she was apologizing for. For asking him to show her? For the pain he had went through? For the fact that he once again had this form as a reminder? She wasn’t sure. Probably a combination of all three. “W-when your ‘devil face’ was gone … did you ever figure out why?”

“Not definitively. Amenadiel has had some likely theories, but if you’re asking if I know how to remove it again, the answer is no.”

Chloe could sense his evasion for what it was, but decided to ignore it for now. She had said that she was going to take a break from asking questions and she’d meant it. He did, however, take her hand and lead her over to the piano with him where he took a seat and lit his cigarette.

She hesitated for a moment before sitting down next to Lucifer. Despite his closed off body language, he had made it clear that he wanted her to follow him. After taking a couple drags, he placed his cigarette at the edge of the ash tray and began to play. Chloe recognized it right away and couldn’t help but smile as he covered _ Bohemian Rhapsody_. 

“Can you believe that I’ve never played this down at Lux?” he asked after a few more bars, turning toward her but fingers still not missing a note. 

“Really?”

“Yes, Maze says that it’s ‘too long’. She did suggest I do an abridged version - utter nonsense. Freddie was a genius, and a devilish flirt - I wouldn’t change a note.”

Chloe covered her mouth, worried that another bout of panicked laughter was going to start. Thankfully she had been prepared for this kind of thing, but _ still_. A few giggles were all that escaped and she was able to calm herself - after all, Lucifer knowing Freddie Mercury was a lot less shocking than Linda’s King Tut story. She frowned when some other implications dawned on her - namely the fact that he likely _ slept _ with him.

Not that there was anything _ wrong _ with that, it was just …

“Hey, Lucifer?”

“Detective?” He continued playing as if his fingers had a mind of their own.

“I was wondering what your thoughts were on, uhm, _ monogamy_,” she cringed. This wasn’t something that had ever had to be verbally addressed at the beginning of her previous relationships, and Chloe felt awkward doing it now.

Lucifer stopped playing, but stared at his unmoving fingers silently before responding.

“I have recently been rethinking my previous stance,” he began, glancing toward her, “and I think you are a worthy exception.”

“O-okay, I mean good! Uh, as long as we’re on the same page.” The relief she felt was palpable. 

He started playing again, from the top, and Chloe slid a little closer on the bench. After a few more bars, Lucifer smoothly slid up against her and got an arm around her to reach a section of keys and she burst out laughing.

“That is such a move!”

“Well, if you feel the need to laugh about it like that it’s obviously not working.”

Chloe smiled and rubbed his back in what was meant to be a consoling gesture, but instead resulted in a cacophony of key smashes and Lucifer immediately freezing. She quickly removed her hand.

He was still for a few more seconds before releasing a large sigh. “Sorry. False alarm,” he apologized, turning to her with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

“What happened?” she asked, though she had a guess. Despite the fact that she had never seen Lucifer’s wings before this weekend, they had appeared twice yesterday without his consent. 

“Well, nothing. For a moment there I thought- silly. Never mind it. Actually, I should probably be getting a shower.” Chloe followed Lucifer’s gaze as he glanced at his ashtray and the forgotten cigarette that had burnt down. When he made a move to get up, she placed a hand on his arm.

“Hey, it’s okay. Do you want to talk about it? Your wings?”

“I don’t see what there is to talk about,” Lucifer evaded, fully standing after the brief pause and walking further into the living room. “I think I’ve made my feelings on them perfectly clear. I don’t want them, I don’t need them. Then again, I suppose they have proven themselves somewhat useful.”

He gave Chloe a meaningful look as he picked up his cigarette case, before turning away as he lit another one. Her heart sank as her gaze was drawn, once again, to the vase full of bullets. 

“Are they okay?” she found herself asking, “Did- did they heal alright?” She hadn’t gotten a good look at them, the first time he had vanished his wings so quickly and the second time her focus had been decidedly elsewhere.

“They’re fine” was all she got in response.

“Can I see them?” Chloe felt bad as soon as the question left her mouth. “I mean, it doesn’t have to be right now,” she quickly added as she watched Lucifer cringe, “I just- I know that they make you uncomfortable, but I just … I know that they’re a part of you and- and … Linda said there were _ 82 bullets_, Lucifer! I- I can’t believe-”

She cut herself off, realizing that she was babbling at this point and on the verge of tears. Lowering her eyes to focus on the piano keys in front of her, she took a few deep breaths. Everything was fine, she told herself, there was no reason to get so worked up. It was really just more supernatural, celestial stuff that she wasn’t used to and didn’t know how to _ get _ used to.

“D- Chloe,” she looked up to see Lucifer walking back over to her, a torn expression on his face, “I assure you I’m fine, but if it will make you feel better …”

Two pristine white wings unfurled slowly from behind him, seeming to possess their own inner light. The other day she had told him they were beautiful, but being able to truly look at them now made Chloe realize that the description had not been enough. She wasn’t sure the English language had a word to encompass how perfect they were, and if it did she didn’t know it. She was barely cognizant of standing up and moving toward him, and not until he was holding her hand was she aware that she had lifted it up to touch his feathers.

“Oh m- I’m sorry, I didn’t even ask-”

“Don’t worry, I’d hardly say you’re in control of yourself,” Lucifer interrupted with an eye roll before the wings vanished. The way he could make them appear and disappear so quickly was jarring. Chloe quickly closed her mouth, realizing belatedly that it had been open to begin with.

“Still,” she finally managed, “I shouldn’t have even asked, and then I tried to touch them. So really, I’m sorry. I’m glad they’re- I’m glad _ you’re _ okay.”

“I appreciate the sentiment,” he admitted, entwining their fingers together for a moment before letting go of her hand and taking a drag of his cigarette. 

Chloe blinked and frowned as the reality of her surroundings seemed to all come back to her. When she was staring at his wings, it was as if everything else had faded away but now that they were gone (however _ that _ worked) it was baffling to see just … Lucifer, who still hadn’t showered yet and it was almost noon. 

“Right!” he announced suddenly, almost as if reading her mind, “I’ll be ready shortly. It’s about time we got out of here. Been cooped up too long. Help yourself to whatever you’d like. What’s mine is yours.” His smile was slightly more natural, if not a little manic, as he turned around and headed into his bedroom.

Chloe clenched the hand he had been holding and furrowed her brow. She was starting to think that it would be a while yet before she’d be able to keep up with her partner, even with all of the additional context. A smile slowly made its way to her lips, however, when she realized that she made it through seeing Lucifer’s _ wings _ without any devil thoughts.

Being alone in the penthouse was just as strange as it had been the day before, and this time she didn’t have a self-guided tour to occupy her time. Chloe ended up going through his DVD collection and was disturbed to find three copies of Hot Tub High School. She hadn’t even known that it was available in 4k Ultra - you’d think someone would have notified her, or even that Lucifer would have attempted something embarrassing like invite the precinct for a screening.

She wasn’t surprised to find that he took forever to get ready - he had a sizeable collection which she had time to thoroughly examine (figuring out in the process that it was organized by year, within year by genre, within genre in alphabetical order and Chloe could not imagine ever having the kind of patience and free time to do something that obsessive) and have time to spare. Bored, she ended up laying down on the couch and checking her phone. Trixie had sent her a bunch of snapchats from her mom’s phone, one for what must be every filter the app had. She was in the middle of sending some dorky messages back when Lucifer finally emerged, perfectly groomed and in a three piece suit, just in time to photobomb a picture of her sticking her tongue out with one of the many animal ear filters.

“I didn’t know you had a snapchat, Detective! I’m actually a little offended that you haven’t added me, what’s your username?” he asked, pulling out his phone from an inner pocket.

“No, I don’t really have a snapchat, it’s just for Trixie. She likes the filters. I only have her, Dan, and my mom on it.”

“And now me,” he said confidently, “Besides, the spawn and I are already friends on snapchat. Look.” He showed her his main snap screen and, sure enough, next to her daughters name were some of the emojis that started to show up next to anyone you snapped frequently.

“What do the two of you snap about?” she asked, baffled that this hadn’t come up before.

“She and I have been gambling on the outcome of snapchat games, if you must know. Ah, and your offspring has just given me your username. Adding you now.”

Chloe wasn’t sure where to start on addressing the situation, and finally decided on the most pressing thing first, “What, exactly, are the two of you gambling with? For that matter, why are you gambling to begin with?!”

“Because it’s fun! And since you’ve banned gambling with real money, we’ve been betting candy.”

She rolled her eyes and found that forcibly reminding herself that Lucifer wasn’t _ human _ actually _ helped _ in these kind of situations. Plus, it definitely could have been worse. She stood up and crossed her arms, ready to get to the bottom of this.

“Alright. Fine. How much candy have you given her since the two of you started this?”

“None. Neither of us has cashed out yet.”

“... okay, well how much candy do you owe her?”

“Changes daily. Yesterday I owed her $12,000 worth of chocolates, but as of four hours ago she owes me $24,000 worth of the sweets of my choice. It is probably a good thing that we’re having this conversation, because I doubt she has that much candy on hand. You may have to take her shopping.”

Chloe shut her eyes and started taking deep breaths. She repeated ‘_He’s not human, he doesn’t know any better_’ in her head a few times but - no. Nope. She did not care. When she opened her eyes again, it was with a glare.

“Lucifer you _ cannot _ gamble with Trixie, I don’t care that it’s ‘for candy’ because it’s the same thing! You’re even talking about it in terms of how much money is spent on the candy! You’re an adult, and she looks up to you! You’re teaching her bad habits! Also, _ also _ it is not okay to gamble with kids in general! Just, no! If we’re going to- to _ date _ and you’re going to spend more time with Trixie we need to set some ground rules. A ton of ground rules, apparently! So rule one, no gambling _ at all _.” Finished, she dropped her arms to her side, feeling mildly embarrassed about how much gesturing she had done but satisfied that she had made her point.

Lucifer took a step back and held up his hands, one of which was still holding his phone. “Very well, Det- Chloe. No gambling. I’ll let the sp- _ Trixie _ now.” He quickly typed something into his phone. “There, done. Though if we’re keeping score, this was something that began before we decided to … well, I don’t think it should count against me in the, er, relationship.”

She frowned. That was- what? 

“Lucifer, I’m not- we’re not going to be keeping some kind of score. That’s not how relationships work. What kind of TV shows and movies have you been watching?”

All he did was shrug in response. Chloe sighed. It wasn’t as if she didn’t already know that figuring out their relationship dynamic was going to be a process.

“We’re going to be fine,” she assured him, bridging the gap and wrapping her arms around him, “and no one’s going to be counting things against anyone.”

He hugged her back after only a few seconds delay, and they stood like that for a bit before Lucifer stepped out of the embrace and took one of her hands.

“Let’s go out,” he said, “I was serious earlier, I’ve spent way too much time up here. It’s time for a change of scenery. Let’s go for a drive, get some fresh air.”

“Alright, that sounds good to me.” Chloe smiled as he led her to the elevator.

They ended up driving down the coast, top down and radio blasting a ‘90s playlist Lucifer had pulled up. After the first few songs Chloe had told him that he could critique them if he wanted. While watching the expression on his face while he tried to hold it in was hilarious, she had to show him _ some _ mercy.

“Where are we going?” she asked, after checking the clock and realizing that they had been driving for almost an hour, in which she’d only had to complain about his speeding twice (a new record).

“Where do you want to go?”

“Wait, so we’re literally just driving?” She felt the need to confirm this. He nodded, glancing toward her with a slightly confused expression.

“Well I have to pick up Trixie before dinner, we can’t go too far. I didn’t have anywhere in mind.”

“I’m aware of the deadline. Let’s get lunch,” he decided, “there’s a lovely Meditteranean restaurant near here, the owner owes me a favor.”

“I don’t want to know,” Chloe decided.

“Are you sure? It’s actually quite a good story, it w-”

Chloe turned up the radio and stuck her hand out of the car, smiling as Lucifer made it obvious that he was rolling his eyes from behind his sunglasses. Soon enough, they arrived at the small restaurant where Lucifer made an obvious effort to open her car door for her, the restaurant door for her, and pull her chair out for her once they were seated.

“You know,” she commented, trying and failing to keep the laughter out of her voice, “I really appreciate the thought, but you don’t have to do all of this.”

“Do all of what?” he asked, and she couldn’t tell if he was serious or not. Chloe didn’t get a chance to say anything else, however, as their waitress walked up.

“Hello,” she greeted them, “I’m Terese and I’ll be your server today. Can I start you off with something to drink?” As soon as Terese focused on Lucifer, she stood up straighter and fixed her hair. Her smile, originally something plastered on as part of a customer service mask, became cute and genuine. Chloe leaned back and crossed her legs, barely holding in a sigh and wishing that she wasn’t so _ surprised_. It’s not like this was the first time she had seen women react like this around Lucifer.

“What do you think, D- Chloe? Mimosas?” Lucifer asked her, eyebrow raised alongside one of his trademark smirks.

“Just water for me.”

“Fine,” he groaned, before turning to the waitress, “water for me as well. With a lemon. And a glass of your …” he tilted his head as he examined the wine list, “the 2005 chardonnay, I suppose.”

“Any appetizers?” Terese asked, sidling closer to Lucifer. Chloe hadn’t even had a chance to open the menu.

“Oh, would you like to try their tabouli?” He once again deferred to her. “Trust me, it’s delicious.”

“Sure,” she nodded, moving forward and consciously fixing her posture. There was really no need to focus so much on what their waitress was doing - Terese looked like she was maybe 18 or 19 years old, and Lucifer had just told her that he was fine with the whole monogamy thing. 

“Alright, and an order of tabouli to share,” he ordered, flashing a 1000 watt grin at the girl as she wrote it down and left with a promise to be right back with the drinks.

“So what happened to ordering a mimosa?” she joked, still feeling more at ease when it was just the two of them.

“That was just me trying to convince you that there are drinks to be had before 5pm. Believe it or not, pairing orange juice and champagne with a falafel is not my first choice.”

“How often do you come here?” Chloe asked, finally looking at the menu.

“Not very, but I happen to know that the chef makes an excellent falafel, and it’s been ages since I’ve had it.”

“You just got a falafel like … two weeks ago,” she countered, glancing up at him with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes, at a food truck. I’m talking about _ these _ falafels.”

“Alright, well, how’s their Moroccan Chicken?”

“Ooh I forgot about the Moroccan Chicken. I did just have falafels.” Lucifer grabbed his menu and opened it.

“Lucifer, just get the falafel. We can share, it’s fine,” she laughed, sitting down her menu and pulling his out of his hands.

“A good plan, as always,” he conceded, easily relinquishing the menu and smiling at her fondly. Chloe felt a wave of sudden nervous energy as she fully realized that this was a _ date _ \- their first _ official _ date. 

Before she had a chance to verbally acknowledge this, Terese arrived with their drinks and tabouli. 

“Ready to order?” she asked, only looking at Lucifer. The specific attention was lost on him, Chloe couldn’t help but notice - he was still completely focused on her. 

“I’ll have the Moroccan Chicken,” she announced. 

Lucifer ordered his falafel, and once again the waitress went back to the kitchen. The interruption had given Chloe enough time to rethink whether or not it was a good idea to talk about the fact that they were on a date - maybe that was too awkward. Not that he would know the difference. 

It took some effort, but she was able to hold back on any visible mirth that thought had given her. Lucifer Morningstar. The devil. On his first _ actual _ date. 

She was a little disappointed at the end of her ‘no random devil thoughts’ streak, but this was a pretty mild one, so at least there was that.

“So, what do people usually talk about on dates?” Lucifer asked, conveniently getting rid of her dilemma. 

“Er, I don’t know. Music, movies, hobbies, family, work … it’s different when you already know a person really well. We don’t have to do the getting-to-know-you part of dating.”

“Hmm … I don’t know, I did just learn today that you’ve had a secret snapchat account. Are there any other apps I should know about?”

By the time their food arrived they were deep in a debate about whether or not word puzzle games were actually relaxing, Chloe citing an example of Maze getting so angry while playing one that she actually stabbed the phone with a kitchen knife.

Terese sat their food in front of them before predictably turning toward Lucifer.

“Let me know if there’s anything else you need,” she practically purred, brushing her hand up his arm before walking away. Lucifer smiled for a second before his jaw dropped and he frowned.

“Oh for Dad’s sake, how do I turn this off,” he exclaimed, uselessly brushing himself down as if there was a literal ‘off switch’ somewhere on his body.

“Th- you’re- it’s actually not something your actively doing?” Chloe hadn’t given this part of his … devil-ness all that much thought.

“No. Well, obviously if I’m drawing out specific desires I have to put some effort in, but this is just a, uh, I suppose you’d call it my passive desirability?”

She shook her head, not having the slightest idea of how to deal with unwanted ‘devil effects’. 

“Let’s just eat, it’s fine,” she said, picking up her fork to take a bite of her chicken. It would at least be fine for now. At some point they were probably going to have to deal with the fact that people were constantly throwing themselves at him. For now she was just going to have a nice lunch. “Oh, this is great!”

“I told you.”

The rest of the meal went well, and Chloe found herself unsettlingly delighted now that Lucifer realized the waitress was flirting with him whenever she stopped by. He would noticeably inch away from her and eye the girl as if she was a wild animal that could bite him at any moment. 

Soon enough - quicker than she would have liked, actually - they were leaving the restaurant, Lucifer once again opening doors for her. 

“Would you like a ride to your mother’s, or did you want to go home and drive yourself?” he asked as he backed out of the parking space.

“I’ll drive myself. There’s only two seats in this car, Lucifer,” Chloe pointed out.

“Ah, right. The sp- Trixie can’t sit on your lap?”

She paused in the middle of putting her sunglasses on just to stare at him. “That’s against the law,” she finally said.

He muttered something as they pulled out of the lot, and it sounded an awful lot like ‘_human laws_’. Chloe chose to ignore this, and the fact that she was probably going to have to start drafting a long list of what was and wasn’t okay for him and Trixie. 

Instead she focused on the music, the coastal view as they headed back toward the city, and how content Lucifer looked as he sat next to her.

_ Yeah_, she smiled to herself, _ we’re going to be okay. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for reading! Posting this story has been so much fun!
> 
> Comments and kudos are always appreciated! <3 
> 
> If you ever want to send a prompt my way, I'm [writingithink](writingithink.tumblr.com) on tumblr. Or if you just want to talk lucifer/deckerstar/etc my main is [jamestkirkish](jamestkirkish.tumblr.com)!

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [The wings of sunshine](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24079927) by [thepoisonofgod](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thepoisonofgod/pseuds/thepoisonofgod)


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